Conquest of the Wessari
by Sabersonic
Summary: Within their corner of the galaxy, the Wassari of New Turbak are content with their own little affairs, their politics and economies. Yet tensions and plots unknown to them are woven into their very skies as an emerging galactic power spied upon their world with gluttonous eyes. Inspired by the Templin Institute's Let's Play series Stellaris Invicta
1. Before the Apocalypse

**Conquest of the Wessari**

This odd story idea- Well, considering the dialogue and setting "inspiration" I'll be using it's more like a parody idea. Anywho, it came to me after watching the Stellaris Invicta miniseries by the Templin Institute and how it would be viewed by a different perspective. For those of you who are familiar with the miniseries, by the title alone it would been a clear enough clue as to whose perspective it was and might get it. For everyone else, eh, I'd suggest watching the first episode and come back here. Trust me, it'll help.

And speaking of help, I gotta put up this disclaimer before I REALLY need help of the legal kind.

 **Disclaimer** **:** The basic intellectual properties that inspired this story are not own by the author. Stellaris is owned by Johan Andersson and Paradox Interactive, while the setting of Stellaris Invicta is inspired by the let's play webseries of the same name by the Templin Institute YouTube channel. Please support the respective official release of each property however possible.

 **Before the Apocalypse**

Within the star system of Raznum orbits the world of New Turbak, homeworld of the Wessari Civilization and its collection of island nations. As odd of a naming convention it would seem to an outside observer, the planet was rechristened such by the Wessari as a way to socially and culturally show that they were above the petty wars of expansion that plagued and scarred their world, that instead they will walk side by side with their fellow nation-states towards a greater future amongst the stars, with probes and robots sent to distant worlds to further their scientific understanding of the universe as a whole. Already these nations have become members of the Greater League of Nations, contributed to that intragovernment's Global Peacekeepers from their already downgraded armies into National Guards to counter the rather sporadic and small scale incursions of radical and revolutionary cells alike who were otherwise displeased with how New Turbak was reorganized.

Yet, these Post-Atomic forces are ill-experienced and ill-prepared to fight a war, a true war. Their last Great War was over a century ago when Island Nations and Archipelago Leagues fought against one another for submarine mining and farming rights, to expand their individual territories for settlement and colonization of their fellow citizens. A Great War that had wrought down the geopolitical world of Old Turbak and laid the foundations of New Turbak, whose victors and veterans could have never have imagined the ambitions of powers and nations that lie just beyond the heliosphere of Raznum.

Never could they have imagined the horrors of true extrasolar war.

Within a radio telescope facility, one of many of the rather underfunded, understaffed and often publicly ridiculed Initiative for the Search of Extrasolar Intelligence, it was just another ill-glorious night of boredom as the radio technician of the late watch spent most of his waking hours to perfect his shuttle swing for the game of Nerf. He had just landed a perfect shuttle with the ball into an improvised nerf hole when a buzz was heard, an alert that the radio telescope had captured a signal of unknown origin. He, at first cautiously, then rushed towards the nearest speaker in order to hear the signal itself. What was heard was rhythmic and fluctuate tone that was both foreign and alien to the radio technician.

Immediately he used the facility's internal coms grid to contact his supervisor, who was vastly asleep and not appreciative of the interruption as he spoke into the receiver. "If this isn't an insanely beautiful busar, I'm hanging up…" The ISEI supervisor groaned in insomniac annoyance.

"Sir! I-I think you should listen to this!" The radio technician answered excitedly as he placed the receiver against the speaker and raised the volume enough for the ISEI supervisor to hear. His initial grogginess soon gave way to shock and surprise as he rose out of bed, only to be reminded that he slept in a bunk bed as his head was made too painfully intimate with the bed frame above. Naturally, curses and expletives erupted from his mouth from such an action.

Soon enough, the radio telescope monitor room was filled with activity with other technicians who were roused from their own slumber as the ISEI supervisor still in nightgown rushed inside. "Great Mother, I hope it's not another Kubari Spy Job."

A second technician turned towards the supervisor. "Annul. Computator's confirms that the signal is unidentified."

A third had just concluded a call. "The sels from Air Monitor said the skies are clear; no terrestrial launches."

The first technician then blurted out what everyone in the room had thought off the top of their heads. "It's the real thing! A wireless signal from another star!"

There was a pause that fully demonstrated the seriousness of the implication before the ISEI supervisor grounded the other technicians. "L-Let's not go half-cocked!" He then turned towards third technician. "Run a trajectory source computation, I want to know EXACTLY where it's coming from. Also get a connection with Aerospace Command, they would want to know about-" He nearly slips as he looks around at the impromptu Nerf shuttle field. "What's with the nerf balls?! You're going to kill me here!" The ISEI Supervisor verbally chewed out the first technician.

The third technician did so as she input the commands and the data for the computator to perform the necessary calculations. However something was wrong with the outcome. "This can't be right…"

"What's wrong?"

"Calculated distance from source is at one hundred, fourty-two thousand kilo-statutes." She then turned back towards the ISEI supervisor. "It's coming from high orbit."

The supervisor then increased the volume of the speaker as the implications became silently clear; the signal wasn't some leaked or directed radio signal from another star. The aliens were already here.

* * *

On the far side of the archipelago, which was the homeland of the United Isles of Arenni, deep within the military headquarters of the nation-state the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and four torch General Nerus was debriefed en route to the command center by the Commanding officer of the UI Aerospace Command two torch General Rono Halvatti. "Who else knows about this?"

"ISEI in Castees Nola identified a signal, but they're more confused than we are." General Halvatti replied, which earned him a glance of disapproval. "Excuse me, ser." With his security card, the otherwise secure doors flew open and the military officers entered the command center. They then cross the room as technicians and assistance flurried about as they assessed the data from one computer to the next.

"Major?" General Halvatti then gestured to one of the officers within the command center.

"Yes, sir?"

"Satellite reception is currently impaired, but we were able to get these." Colonel Halvatti then showed General Nerus diffused images upon an illumination table presented by other military officers. Whatever the object was, it was larger than anything short of an asteroid that their world had ever seen.

"Looks like a big shisno." General Nerus commented.

"We estimate that it has a length of about three kilo-statutes and a mass roughly two thirds that of Isrador Island." General Halvatti reported in reference to one of the largest islands eastern hemisphere of New Turbak and in the United Isles in Arenni in particular, where they are currently located.

"What the naga is it? A meteor?" General Nerus questioned.

A second officer, Major Uldu commented. "No, ser. Definitely not."

"How do you know?"

Major Uldu struggled to find the right words. "It's, um… it's slowing down."

"It's doing what?" General Nerus nearly repeated in disbelief.

"It's… slowing down, ser."

With the news, General Nerus approaches the nearest phone and picks up the receiver. "Get me the Minister of Defense." After a pause from the reply in the other end, he spoke out loudly. "Then wake him!"

* * *

Upon his bed within the Presidential Palace, Delvis J. Norgrem had several newspapers before him when the nearby phone rang. He answers and listens to his wife's voice on the other end of the line. "Hi. It's me."

"Hi darling. What time is it there?" Delvis inquired of his wife who was currently on the far side of the UI.

"Two in the morning." Vinnarette Norgrem answered. "I KNOW I didn't wake you."

"As a matter of fact, you did."

"Liar." Vinarette's tone suggested that she smiled when she said the word.

"I have a confession to make; there's a beautiful young brunette sleeping next to me." Delvis then turned towards his young daughter who, in turn, was in the process of waking up herself.

"You didn't let her stay up all night watching television, did you?"

"Of course not." Delvis answered. "You're flying back right after the luncheon, right?"

The young child, Lyssa, then looked up half-asleep, half awake. "Konna?"

"Here's your Konnati." Delvis then handed the receiver to Lyssa before he rose from his bed. Mindlessly, he turned on the television monitor that presented a round table news discussion. The image, however, was of poor quality than usual this morning.

"…President Norgrem's approval ratings have slipped below forty percent." The audio of the aged pundit was barely audible over the unknown interference. "Even his crime bill failed to pass. Are the salad days over for President Norgrem? Yonsil?"

"Leadership as a pilot during the Lentil Sea Incursion is completely different from leadership in politics." Yonsil commented upon the news panel.

With both phone and television remote in hand, Lyssa spoke with her mother rather bluntly. "Monna let me watch Scripsar."

"Traitor." Delvis near-playfully retorted as he exited the bedroom.

"That's the problem. They elected a warrior and they got a wimp…" A third pundit added.

As Delvis walked down the hallway with newspaper in hand, a security guard snapped to attention. "Good morning, Your Excellency."

"Good morning, Kell." Delvis then handed the security guard, Kell, the athletics page of the newspaper. "That game couldn't have been pretty."

Kell simply chuckled from the comment. "Thank you, ser."

As Delvis approached the breakfast table, he walked past his communications director, Loralla Tuburik. "Lory, you're up early this morning."

Loralla gathered her things in a slight rush as she followed Delvis. "They're not attacking your policies. They're attacking your age." She spoke in reference to the latest news articles before she read an excerpt from the newspaper. "Addressing the Senate, Norgrem seemed less like the president and more like the orphan sarlet asking 'please ser, may I have some more.'"

"That's clever." Delvis took the criticism in stride, as if he did not take such talk seriously. "That's really clever."

"Yeah, well, I'm not laughing. Not one chuckle." Loralla commented. "Age was never the issue when you keep to your beliefs. You were thought of as young, idealistic. Now the message has gone lost somewhere." She spoke exasperated. "It's just too much politics. Too much compromise."

To such words, Delvis replied. "Isn't it amazing how quickly everyone turns against you?"

In an attempt to ease the tension, Loralla handed Delvis another newspaper. "Well, the Mellon Shire Register has named you one of the ten mate-able sari of the year."

"You see, sustenance at last."

It was then did a palace aid approached Delvis. "Your Excellency, it's the Minister of Defense."

Delvis turned and picked up the receiver. "Yes?" He then listened to the Minister of Defense, to which he replied in abject disbelief. "C-could you say that again?"

* * *

Within a community park near a river that separated one great city from another to the far north of the archipelago, many aged and elderly Wassari were engaged in the game of Ti-non. However, one game was different from the others as it was between elderly father and young adult son. The former grew impatient with the latter as the son, Melg Tellus, was in deep thought.

"So, what are you waiting for? Hmm?" The father, Hulish, half-taunted. "My welfare warranty will expire, you'll still be sitting there."

"I'm pondering." Melg replied, still in heavy concentration despite the distraction.

"Yeah, well, ponder already." Melg made his move and rolled the dice to signify the end of his turn. Hulish then moved his piece, a Levy, in accordance to the outcome of the dice roll in almost no regard to the sophistication and complexity of Ti-non.

It was at that moment did Melg notice that Hulish had drunk his morning brew from a polystyrene cup after the dice was rolled. "Mon, do you have any idea how long it takes for those cups to decompose?"

"If you don't move soon, I'm gonna start to decompose." Melg then moved his piece, an action that raised an eyebrow for Hulish before he moved his own corresponding piece to counter his son's own. "Hear, Melg, I've been meaning to have words with you." He took a deep inhale of the narcotic smoke before he continued. "It's nice that you see me so much now, but-"

"Don't… Don't start, Mon."

"I'm only saying that it's been, what, four cours? You're still wearing your seal band?"

Melg replied with three hoved digits. "Three cours."

"Alright, three, four. You're annulled. Come on, move on. This isn't healthy." Hulish then took another deep inhale of narcotic smoke before he tossed the dice.

"No, this isn't healthy. Cropping isn't healthy." Melg lightly scolded as he saw the outcome of the dice, far more than he would ever need when his telecom unit beeped.

"How many times is that now? You TRYING to be unemployed?"

Melg then used his Lancer piece to take out one of Hulish's Levy pieces that were next to the Regent piece. "Pumbaa."

"Wait a moment, wait a moment, wait a moment." Hulish began to contend the move as Melg stood up and began to leave. "Wait, wait, wait. This is not…. This is not pumbaa."

Melg then shared breath with Hulish before he departed. "See you tomorrow, Mon."

"Now just hold on. This is not pumbaa!" Melg was already upon his cycle and road off when Hulish realize that he lost the game of Ti-non. "Ugh, pumbaa…."

Once Melg returned to his job at Television Select Systems, he is met with numerous employees either on the phone with distraught customers or at computers. Upon the wall were rows of monitors that presented all the stations available to the cable service, each one of them have their audios and or visuals distorted. However he rode his cycle through the office space as if it were an everyday ordeal rather than a crisis that could lose him employment and income.

A thought that was thrust onto him as his employer, Nolgit Blurt, rushed to him. "Melg! Melg! What the naga is the point of a pager if you don't activate it?!"

"It was activated. I was just ignoring you." Melg then maneuvered his bike around a still occupied employee before he asked Nolgit. "What's the, eh… What's the big emergency?"

"It started this morn. Every channel's making like it's the twenty-nine forties. We got static. We got snow. All kinds of distortion." Nolgit answered as he nonchallantly tossed a desert beverage container in the garbage bin, an action Melg took extreme notice. "Nobody knows-"

Melg retrieved the discarded container from the big. "What the naga are you doing?" He then approached a blue bin to place it in the proper receptacle. "There's a reason why we have containers labeled 'recycle'- What the naga is going on?" He then noticed that more mis-disposed containers in another waste bin. He then pulled them out and presented them. "Great Mother in Paradise."

"So sue me. Melg! We got a problem!" The two then entered Melg's cubicle to discuss the issue further.

"Did you try to switch transceiver signals?"

"Oh, please! You think I would be in this panicked if it were something THAT simple?" Melg then looked at the computator readouts and scans the data presented to him.

"Okay. Let's point the dish at another satellite." Melg stated as he lightly misted the potted plant upon his desk.

"We tried that. It didn't work." Nolgit then presented Melg more paperwork and computator readouts. "It's almost as if they weren't even there."

"Alright. Alright. What've we got here?" Melg took a closer look at the readout and, with a puzzled look upon his face, looked up and back at Nolgit. "This is impossible…."

* * *

On the far end of the archipelago that made up the United Isles of Arenni, in a rather unassuming caravan park of a local farming island, an adolescent boy watched a classical speculative fiction film on the television.

"…We've created a race of automatons…" Or at least attempted to watch the movie if it weren't for the distortions. "…their function is to…" The adolescent wassari slaps the television monitor in a vain attempt to get a better audio and video resolution for what is another long day of being in the middle of nowhere.

"Ulell, the signal's all screwed up." The adolescent wessari, Broi, commented offhandedly as he continued to slap the seemingly malfunctioning machine.

"Stop it. Just leave it alone, you're going to break it." Ulell scolded as he was in the middle of cooking breakfast for the family that was present within the caravan. The only female of the group, Yssinifae, continues to apply makeup to make herself prettier.

"It's so fuzzy." Ulell then hands Broi a bottle of medicine, to which the latter pushes away. "I don't need it."

"Just take it, tusk head." Ulell then turned towards Yssinifae. "Yssin! Make sure Broi takes his medicine." With only nonresponse as a reply, Ulell threw a tower at the younger sibling while Broi continues to rough house a better viewing quality.

Before an argument erupts, a horn was heard and Ulell knew exactly who it was when he rushed out of the caravan to meet another farmer. The look upon the farmer's face did not look pleased. Ulell pushed Yssinifae away from the door before she could attempt another ill attempt at flirting and make the situation worse than it had already devolved.

"Mytel, good morn to you-" Ulell attempted to be diplomatic when an armful of rotten vegetables was thrust into his face.

"You see these? I got a whole Great Mother condemned crop full of these." The farmer, Mytel, then unceremoniously dropped the rotten vegetables on the ground. "Where the naga is that monei of yours? Do you even KNOW what time it is?"

"He had to refuel. There must have been a problem." Mytel simply rolled his eyes in response.

"We both know what the problem is. I must have been out of my skull." Mytel then added. "If he's not in the air in half a score, I'm getting someone else."

Broi smacks the television once more just as Mytel walked away and towards his cargo hauler. "Broi, stop that! By the Great Mother, I swear!"

And it was at that time did the picture finally died out.

Later on, at a nearby farm, Ulell finally locates his father Coyall Seelse in his antique, centuries old bi-plane and had begun to dust the field. However, this was not Mytel's farm.

Once the plane landed and come to a complete stop, Ulell in his motorcycle approached Coyall just after he had stumbled out of the plane in a drunken stupor.

"Do you have any idea what you just did?" Ulell scolded his father.

"Bringin' home the sooie. Earnin' my keep." Coyall drunkenly replies as he looks upon both the field and his aircraft, proudly proclaimed "And doing a fine job, if I do say so myself."

"Mytel's acre is on the far side of the township!"

Coyall looked towards the farm, confused, before he turned back towards Ulell. "Are you sure?"

"Condemned it, Coyall! He was doing you a favor. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone who doesn't think you're completely crazy?" Ulell cursed. "What are we supposed to do now? Huh? Where are we supposed to go now?"

With a displeased look upon his face, Ulell rode off back to the caravan as Coyall looked at the occupants of the farm once more. They were not the same ethnicity nor spoke the same language as Mytel. Thus, he took a healthy swig of alcohol from his flask as if this was no longer his problem.

Later that morning, at the airport diner, Coyall was in the middle of breakfast and recover from his adrenaline-fueled hangover and recent depression with a cup of morning brew, but with little success. It was then did a group of flight mechanics enter the diner. To his luck, one of them sees him. "Well look who we have here."

The flight mechanic, Nilk Bradge, then sat next to Coyall at the counter. "Hi, Coy, heard that you had a little trouble this morning. Dusting the wrong field?" The other flight mechanics laughed at Coyall at his expense and it took all of Coyall's hungover willpower to pay them little mind. It barely worked.

"I know you're probably still confused from your hostage experience." This caught the attention of one of the other flight mechanics, Terris Melsil.

"'Hostage experience'?" Melsil asked in bewildered amusement. "Did somethin' happen to ya, Coy?"

"He ain't never told you?!" Bradge called over his shoulder. "Seems cours back, our sel here had been kidnapped by aliens. Did all kinds of experiments on him and such. Tell him, Coy."

"Not today sars, okay?" Coyall half-begged.

"Get a couple of spirits in him, he'll tell ya all about it. Crazy stuff, won't you Coy?" Melsil and the other flight mechanics could not hold back their amusement when Bradge asked. "Coy… When they took you up in their spaceship, did they do any…. mating things, do you recall?" The other flight mechanics could barely breathe from the accusation. "Do you recollect?"

Coyall, as much as he believed in justified for whatever actions he could deliver onto these flight mechanics for making fun of one of the most traumatic experiences in his life, he took the higher path and simply left some currency on the counter and walked out. That and he was too hung over and depressed to do anything else worthwhile.

"Oh Coy!" Bradge's guffawed tone betrayed the insincerity in his tone as Coyall left.

* * *

Within the many corridors and hallways of the Presidential Palace, Loralla and two palace aids were in deep discussion while all three were en route. "NCN's running a story about how we are covering up some kind of nuclear testing experiments against the mandate of the League." One aid reported.

"Well tell them to run it if they want to embarrass themselves." Loralla then added to herself. "Wouldn't be the first time…"

"BNAS' been all over my rear for the last few days and it had only gotten worse this morn. They want to know our position in all of this." A second aid inquired.

"Our official position is…. We have no position." Loralla half-laughed in response.

"Lorrie, what the naga IS going on here?" The first aid inquired in exasperation as Loralla entered a lift.

"Come on, sels, would I keep any of you out of the feedback?"

"Yes/Absolutely" Both aids responded simultaneously, but the lift doors closed before Loralla could offer a retort.

Within the Presidential Office, Delvis, General Nerus, Minister of Defense Farsal Qanmata, and Chief of Staff Holb Keebis began to discuss options on how to respond to the unknown object. Keebis then tossed down a folder upon the table before him. "At the moment, our satellite uplinks are rather unreliable. Would it not be possible if this thing just passed us by?"

"What if it doesn't 'pass us by'?" Qanmata looked up from his copy of the data with a face that reflected puzzled annoyance. He then turned towards Delvis. "Let's just target some IOBMs and blow it out of the sky."

General Nerus quickly countered. "Forgive me, but with what little information we DO have, the only thing that will accomplish is turn one dangerous falling object into many."

"Not to mention how pissed off the League would be if we did something like that without a legal resolution from the Security Council, let alone the General Assembly." Delvis added. "We've had enough international scandals as is; we don't want to add more to it if we don't need to."

Just then Loralla entered the office. "Luckily the reporters are making up their own story at this point. But it won't keep for very long."

"Aye, we were lucky that it didn't get any worse since we first got a glimpse of whatever it was." Delvis agreed. "A few fortnights is already pushing our luck as it is. We may need to upgrade to Defcon 3."

"Absolutely." Qanmata then turned faced General Nerus. "General, contact SOUAD and the Security Council. You tell them that we've upgraded to Defcon 3."

"That's not what his Excellency said." General Nerus countered.

"Isn't that a little premature?" Loralla added.

"I don't think so." Qanmata answered.

"We have over half of our armed forces on weekend leave, not to mention the commanders and troops are in the capital for the Union Week parade." Keebis reminded the group. "The rest of the planet is even worse than us with the upcoming armistice holidays and if we recall our troops back, that'll raise a major red flag for the rest of the planet."

A palace aide then showed two Space Command officers into the room. Delvis motioned them "Go ahead, Commander."

The Space Command Officer then read the data from a secured binder. "Intelligence has indicated that the object is leaving our orbit."

"So it is going to just pass us by." Keebis noted from his earlier statement.

"That must make it good news then." Qanmata added as well.

"Uh, no. Not 'passing by', it's leaving." The Space Command Officer left little room for the ramification to sink into their collective minds when new images are shown from a secured data briefcase. "Something else replaced it." The rough, incomplete radar image showed a different object. "It's a quarter larger than the last object, but that's not all." The image then switched to an updated image, with what appeared to be scaffolding alongside the alien object. "It appears to be constructing something massive by our estimates. Far bigger than the League Space Station in orbit."

An uncomfortable pause filtered the room before Qanmata asked. "How long until that thing is done?"

"At the rate at which it is observed, and assuming that it doesn't get any larger than what we theorized, it would be completed within six fortnights."

With a heavy heart, Delvis ordered. "Upgrade everyone to Defcon 3."

* * *

Back within his office at Television Select Systems, Melg had just warmed up his meal when Nolgit entered. "Please, tell me that you're getting somewhere."

"Oh, well there's some good news and some bad news." Melg answered.

"Alright, what's the bad news then?"

"You're in meal penalty for disturbing my luncheon."

"Aaand the good news is that you're not gonna charge me?"

"Uh, no." Melg quickly corrected. "I found the problem and it's not our equipment. There's some kind of weird signal embedded in the satellite feed."

"So, wait, that's the good news?" Nolgit raised an eyebrow as Melg slid his office chair before another set of computators with an intricate program displayed upon the monitor.

"Aye, because the signal has a definite sequential pattern so as soon as I find the exact binary sequence and calculate the phase reverse on that calculated spectra analyzer I built on your lifeday and apply it, we should be able to block it out completely."

"…And we'll be the only guys in the city with a clear picture!" Nolgit realized as he kissed Melg on the forehead. "Aye! Aye! Aye! Oh Melg, this is why I love you!"

"Yes."

"You're too kind." Nolgit was about to turn to leave when an alert was seen upon Melg's computer. "What's wrong now?"

"Well the signal just changed completely." Melg then rushed to correct the problem. "Like it was replaced with another one, more aggressive than the last one."

"We're in trouble, aren't we?" Nolgit spoke with a crestfallen tone.

"Not just yet. It just means that I can't leave here just yet in case another signal comes in to replace the old one. I can definitely get a clear signal, but it won't be as permeant as I would like."

"So how long until we get something permanent?"

"Depends on how annoying these new signals get." Melg stated as he found himself in another issue where he would have to both eat and work at the same time. The only difference is that this might take longer than a single meal, if not a single day.

In fact, he would not get a good night's rest for quite some time.

* * *

For all of you who are wondering by now. Yes, this is basically a big ol' spoof of the movie Independence Day with Wessari and Humans instead of what is actually shown. Originally I had it be just as tense and fast paced as in the original movie, but then I looked at the dates in the first archive video which showed that it was measured in months rather than days so it might be a bit slow paced with only sporadic mentions of the passage of time.

Still, it does give a bit of a different view of what is otherwise an NPC race whose conquest was little more than stats and images not unlike your typical web browser game. Granted, it's QUITE a familiar view, but a different view none the less.

Anywho, flames and brutally honest reviews are not necessary. I know how slocky this story is and I can berate myself just as well thank you very much. And in case it wasn't clear, I do not own the rights to Independence Day either.


	2. They Arrive

**Conquest of the Wessari**

Well, here's the second chapter of this odd fanfiction slock of mine. And it's about this time that I realized that there was no way in *censored* that I was going to finish this story before the next livestream of Stellaris Invicta. I'm not that big of a miracle worker-

Who am I kidding? I was never a "miracle worker" to begin with.

So I figured that I'll just get these two out into the wild and just work on the remaining chapters after Saturday. It would be nice if Marc and Larissa would make some kind of comment on Twitch, let alone heard about it, but I'm not putting my hopes up. And after I started working on this chapter, I thought that I should put in all of the "inspiration" sources in the disclaimer so at least I'm slightly covered. Probably spoiled the surprise, but I'd rather not get the DCMA one if you know what I mean.

Speaking of which…

 **Disclaimer** **:** The basic intellectual properties that inspired this story are not own by the author. Stellaris is owned by Johan Andersson and Paradox Interactive, while the setting of Stellaris Invicta is inspired by the let's play webseries of the same name by the Templin Institute YouTube channel. Indepdendence Day is owned by 20th Century Fox, Rolland Emmerich and Dean Delvin. Battle: Los Angeles is owned by Colombia Pictures, Jonathan Liebesman, Jeffrey Chernov, David Greenblatt, and Christopher is owned by Buena Vista Pictures, Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer, Gale Anne Hurd, Johnathan Hensleigh, and J.J. Abrams. Please support the respective official release of each property however possible.

 **They Arrive**

For nearly half a year, the unknown alien objects continued unabated despite numerous failed attempts at first contact by the Greater League of Nations and its member states, all the while the Wessari civilization as a whole were largely ignorant of these extrasolar visitors, the unknown interference being the greatest boon to keep such a historic discovery. Many in the know were simply awestruck at the sheer scale of these massive spacecraft, whose purpose were unknown and yet dwarf the greatest spaceborne achievements of the aboriginals of New Turbak.

However, the dormancy of these unknown artificial celestial bodies were no longer the primary subject of observation or concern as a great constellation entered Raznum and have begun their approach towards New Turbak.

On one of the many northern beaches of the western cosmopolitan island of Vol Gretta, UI Naval Infantry Staff Sergeant Hollo Granz was occupied with his morning exercise routine. However, it was when he was passed by younger, more able Naval Infantry jogged past him did the decision he had mulled about since the debacle of his last tour become cemented. However, before he could report to the Yolumo NI camp, he needed to catch his breath and put ice upon his thigh.

As he leaned against the open trunk of his automobile, he spotted a fellow NI veteran with a similar condition as himself as the latter held the ice bag against the nape of his neck. "You know what they say; you're only as old as you fee, staff sergeant."

Granz chuckled in response. "That's what I'm worried about. I can't feel an accursed thing."

Some time later, within one of the offices of the Yolumo NI camp, Granz met up with NI First Sergeant Trel Romptual as the latter scanned the numerous pictures. "Where's that one we took in Gulzi with that nuvoo- I mean your siel'brae."

"Is this for real?" The conversation switched to a different topic as Romputal slapped a folder upon his own desk. "It's got your signature but I told them 'that's not right, he can't write'."

"No mistake Trel, I did my twenty." Granz answered. "I know when to get out."

"You got a box full of metals, file full of commendations."

"You can have them. Seems you like interior decorating." Granz countered before he set down himself. "Naval Infantry's got a self-life. After that…."

"What? They spoil?"

"Something like that." Granz mused in response. "After all the funerals, all the parents I had to visit and tell them what happened to their sarlets…"

Granz paused before he continued. "I'll finish my training assignment with these NI, get them combat ready, and then I'll be on our merry way."

"You know, we could always use another lean, mean, typing machine." Romputal offered.

"Naga, I ain't built like you Trel: Ugly, slow, soft."

Romputal sighed before he spoke once more. "You had to make some tough calls; we all do at least once. Especially that last one. We all wish your men made it home." With heavy reluctance, Romputal sighed Granz's papers. He then handed the file to Granz. "There we go, you're expired. Clear the shelf, Staff Sergeant."

Granz stared at the folder that contained his papers and spoke. "Everything I know is in here Trel."

* * *

In another portion of the city, two Naval Infantry watched a monitor of the latest news report through poor reception of a cluster of meteors headed towards New Turbak or at least that could be surmised. The two NI, Corporals Jahl Elavi and Molar Higgwen, could only do so much with the numerous errands they had to do that day.

It was then, when Elavis had begun to smell a flower, that Higgwen commented. "You know what? There's something extremely uncomfortable with a sar your size sniffing a bloom."

"What you want is some Tellbeauls, popular seal blooms. Comes in green, blue, uh…" Elavis turned towards Higgwen. "What color is the jula maid's dresses?"

Higgwen wagged a hooved digit before he responded. "Good question."

Elavis shook his head in exasperation. "You're amazing. Just take a wiff."

Before could, however, Higgwen's bride to be approached him. "Aye, pretty siel?"

"For three hundred more, we could have sprays of pilleys." Higgwen could barely hold his annoyance. "I know it's a lot, but it would be so beautiful. What do you think serleti?"

"Three hundred, Great Mother-"

"I think it's a no-minder," Elavis interrupted. "You only get sealed once. What are you going over three hundred-"

"Gratitude, Elavis." Higgwen interrupted as well, knowing full well that Elavis was just doing it to get to him. And it was working.

Reluctantly, he turned back to his bride to be. "You know what? It's your day, do whatever you want." Higgwen received a kiss before she left to relay the updated order for their wedding. He then turned back towards Elavis with suppressed annoyance and raged. "I'm gonna hit you with something REALLY heavy. What are you doing?"

"Just crackin' your nethers." Elavis replied.

Almost at the last moment, Higgwen's bride reminded the two NI corporals. "Morrow, we shop for kakq."

"And I can't wait." Higgwen replied.

"I love kakq." Elavis added.

* * *

Within one of the many barrack common rooms of Yolumo NI camp, a foreign national Naval EMT attempted to speak via video link with another who spoke the same tongue as him. The poor picture and audio quality make the conversation rather taxing at best despite the occasional spike of data flow.

The Naval EMT, Keesh Ashuqamanki, was not alone in the common room however. Nor was he left alone when a fellow NI approached him. "Yo, Med, what'cha doin'?"

"Scrying back home. Well," Ashuqamanki then shrugged his shoulders in reference to the current video quality. "'trying' to be exact."

"Is that your siel'brae?" the NI, Spear Corporal Geon Hollambro, leaned over Ashuqamanki's shoulder to get a better look at the computer monitor. "Condemned, she is a beaut!" He chuckled as he gave Ashuqamanki a light slap on the shoulder. "Med, my sel!"

In response, Ashuqamanki gave Hollambro a brief look of annoyed embarrassment before he answered. "That's my kin-siel."

As the realization sunk into his head, Hollambro attempted to salvage the situation he got himself in. "I-I was just speaking objectively here. You know what I'm speakin'?" He then leaned closer. "You think that she would-" he narrowly missed the smack that would have otherwise hit him on the back of his head via Ashuqamanki.

In another portion of the camp, an NI was in the middle of an appointment with the camp psychiatrist, Major Grusna Jaryal. The NI, Spear Corporal Ulban Tolls, then asked, "Mind if I have one of those?" He gestured towards the bowl of hard candies.

"Eat it at your own risk." The Tolls reached for them before Jaryal added. "They're really aged."

Tolls then pulled away as Jaryal asked. "So, do you feel like you're making any progress?"

"Yes," Tolls nodded. "I'm sleeping a little better." He continued as Jaryal jotted down notes. "Also, around the shooting yard and everything when I first came back the pops would get me jumpy and mess with me a little bit, a little bit of a setback. But now," Tolls shock his head. "It don't bother me. So I think that's progress."

"So what's the story of my status, Med?" Tolls inquired as his hooved digits tapped upon his shaking leg. "Will you put me up for combat? 'Cuz…. I feel good."

Almost unceremoniously, Jaryal answered. "Let's meet again next week and," He paused a moment before he continued. "We'll discuss it, right?"

With a disappointed roll of his head, Tolls stood up. "Gr-gratitude med. Great gratitude." Almost as if in a gesture of protest, he took a handful of hard candies from the bowl. Once he ate a few of the candies he learned that Jaryal was a bit wrong about the candies; they were so ancient that they had no flavor whatsoever and nearly broke one of his molars.

Later that day, at a military cemetery, NI Corporal Lop Varnap stood before the grave marker of his deceased elder brother with nerf club in hand. "See, his siel is making him organize his entire a forthnight before we deploy. She's crackin' his nethers like nobody's business. They got a fortnight to get it done until we're out of here."

Varnap then keeled before the grave marker. "So I came by here to visit you one last time before we leave. I brought mon's five metal with me, you know what that means. Me and the sels are going out tonight to continue the tradition. Have a good time, you know? I'll see you soon, kin-sel. See you soon." He then placed a kiss of morning upon the grave marker before he stood up and walked away.

Soon enough, the pitch blanket of evening rolled across the land as several Naval Infantry played a round of nerf in the dark and with nightvision goggles in hand. In the middle of a play some young and attractive women had approached them and the NI's began to be familiar with this group with random knowledge of Naval Infantry culture and factoids. With Ashuqamanki, he explained that he came to the United Isles of Arenni to become a doctor and the best path was to enlist as a Naval EMT.

With the youngest of their group, Private Uttersar, was allowed to enlist due to his mother who signed the required legal documents. A few fellow NI, before the formal meeting up with the girls, advised him to not make it so obvious that he had never mated before. But with one too many bottles of spirit brew, he never gotten the chance to make a good impression as his stomach violently expunged the alcoholic contents to the ground, much to the chagrin of the NI whose automotive cargo hauler to which he sat upon.

Before the night was over, and at Uttersar's expense, they collectively made a toast in celebration as they cried out their battallion's battlecry and slogan "Retreat, naga".

In the late hours of the night, an amateur astronomer with his hand-made observatory and telescope witnessed something extraordinary from the last few hours. It was then did his wife bust in angrily. "Knav! Your Surrey Pot Pastery's been on the table for ten scours. I want a divorce."

"Jolly, I'm onto something big here. I don't know what this is, but there's something burnin' up there or something. And there's a whole lot of 'em." Knav, the amateur astronomer completely ignored his wife. "Go get my Call Ledger, will you? Go get my Call Ledger. Get those names from those sels at BNAS."

"Excuse me?!" Jolly was, understandably offended. "Am I wearing a sign that says 'Knav's slave'?"

With a roar, Knav yelled out. "Go get my Great Mother condemned Call Ledger!" Jolly left frustrated as Knav repeatedly called out angrily for his phone book again and again.

* * *

The next morning, at UI Aerospace Command, two torch General Rono Halvatti was informed of a new development that was no doubt linked with the unknown arrival of the alien objects in orbit. "Who found this out?" He asked Major Uldu.

"Some amateur sky watcher in the mid isles." Major Uldu answered. "Formerly Naval Force if the records are correct."

"Do we have coordinates to confirm?"

"Our liaisons at BNAS tell us that Director Velorsar is on receiver with him right now."

At the most northern island of Arenni, within the compound of Aerospace Center Gullist and the location of BNAS Expeditionary Control, BNAS Director Velosar was in the middle of the exact call that effectively told the powers that be of the Greater League of Nations the location of the new alien group. "Okay, Knav, listen. I want you to take your time."

"Am I the first?" Knav asked over the receiver.

"Yes sir. You're certainly the first."

"Okay, first coordinate: One, Two, Three, Nine. One, Two, Three, right?" Knav repeated the coordinate to ensure that it was received properly despite the poor reception.

"Ministry of Justice locked his location. Saw like an explosion in space." A BNAS Employee whispered to another as Director Velosar had received the second set of coordinates.

"Listen, Knav, this is top secret." Director Velosar advised Knav over the receiver.

"Ser, I'm retired Naval Force. I know all about classified. But one more thing. The person who finds them gets to name them, right?"

"Yes, that's right." Director Velosar answered.

"I want to name them Jolly, after my mate." Knav spoke, which nearly melted Jolly's heart. Then she heard his reasoning. "She's a vicious, lifesuckin' yelsh from which there's no escape." Knav elaborated as Jolly gave him a rather fitting, yet still offensive gesture in his direction.

"Th-that's very sweet, Knav." Velorsar answered the receiver rather uncomfortably. He snapped his finger for one of the flight directors to confirm the coordinates.

Later on at the Presidential Palace, Delvis was surrounded by his chief advisors and the Joint Chiefs of Staff while representatives of UI Aerospace Command and Etaris Command were clustered around receivers to relay reports.

"Can we get a probe or something to investigate?" Minister of Defense Qanmata asked a BNAS representative.

"With our interplanetary propulsion technology and gravity assists?" The BNAS representative shook her head. "At the rate we've calculated, the Jolly Cluster'll be here long beforehand and the probe'll barely be on its way to where they first appeared."

General Nerus then asked. "How long will they get here?"

"We estimate that they'll enter the atmosphere under a fortnight at the latest, if not sooner."

"Can we at least get the League to allow a coordinated IOBM launch at them?" Qanmata asked.

Before General Nerus could correct him, the BNAS representative spoke. "Maybe to deflect a few of them, but not all of them. Even if we still had the old stockpile from before the formation of the League, it still wouldn't be enough." She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. "There's just too many."

Qanmata then turned towards a presidential aid. "Yelix, organize a military escort."

General Nerus then turns towards Delvis. "Your Excellency, I strongly recommend that we move you to a secure location immediately. The Jolly Cluster might hit us sooner than we expected."

Delvis instead turns towards Loralla. "Lory, can we expect the same kind panic similar to the Seddar Incident when this finally goes public?"

"If not worse." Loralla answered honestly.

Qanmanta attempted to lead Delvis away. "Your Excellency, we can discuss more along the way. There's no guarantee-"

"I'm not leaving." Delvis decided, which caused the entire room to go silent.

"We have to guarantee and maintain a working government."

"I want you to get the vice president, the whole cabinet, and the joint chiefs to a secure location." Delvis ordered. "I'm staying. I don't want to add to a public hysteria that's going to cost lives." He then turned towards Loralla. "Lory."

"Your Excellency?" Loralla answered.

"Get ready to initiate the Crisis Transmission System. If some sel can spot them without government funding, it's only a matter of time until the rest of the planet knows and that's just on our side of the hemisphere. We should advise everyone to not panic, and that the best idea right now is to stay in their homes."

"Yes ser." Loralla then turned towards her own aids and began to coordinate a plan with them.

Qanmanta then turned back to the presidential aid. "Yelix, contact the Cabinet Members. Have them rendezvous here. We'll take them to SOUAD."

General Nerus then approached Delvis. "Your Excellency, with your permission, I would like to remain at your side."

Delvis made a small smirk. "I had a feeling you would."

"And what happens when they do become hostile?"

With a deep pause, the president of the United Isles of Arenni answered. "Then Great Mother help us all."

* * *

Several days later, the news broke out as soon as the Secretary General of the Greater League of Nations had made the announcement; the unknown group of celestial objects known only as the Jolly Cluster have entered New Turbak's hill sphere and are now on an intercept course with the planet at a rate never before witnessed. It would be within the hour until they entered the atmosphere, if at all, but the effects are unknown.

Early that morning, newly minted NI Lieutenant Barrel Ketarmetz had just readied his uniform for his first command. His wife helped him to make sure that everything upon his uniform was as per regulations from an alternative point of view. Soon, he left his house but not before he kissed both his wife and his unborn child goodbye.

Upon the Yolumo Training Grounds, Granz's training of Naval Infantry was interrupted by the arrival of military transport haulers. The Staff Sergeant then orders his NI to meet up with the improvised and sudden convoy.

There to meet them, First Sergeant Romputal called out. "NI! Get into the haulers and report to your host guard! Let's go!"

Granz then approached and asked Romputal. "What's going on, First Sergeant?"

"The Jolly Cluster, whatever it is, is gonna hit us hard and fast. The whole Great Mother condemned base is being mobilized." Romputal answered. "I'm bringing you back to the host guard, Hollo. I need you."

"First Sergeant…!"

In a stern, commanding voice, Romputal spoke "All hands on deck, Staff Sergeant."

Internally conflicted, Granz nevertheless boarded the hauler.

In one of the many buildings of Camp Yolumo, Lieutenant Ketarmetz walked and spoke with Corporal Kee Buutgles. "I take it you've heard that we're mobilizing?"

"Yes, ser." Buutgles answered.

"I'm moving you up to yulab leader." Ketarmetz stated. "It's bigger responsibility, but I'm sure you'll hande it."

"Gratitude, ser."

"Staff Sergeant Tulvit is being replaced by Staff Sergeant Granz." Ketarmetz informed. "What do you know about him?"

With an uncomfortable look upon his face, Buutgles answered diplomatically. "He's, uh… very dedicated NI."

"Don't poo doo me corporal." Ketarmetz saw that Buutgles had hid more opinions. "What did you hear about his last tour?"

"Just the gnarly details that everyone else already knows." Buutgles then added. "But at the end of the dae, you're our lieutenant and we take our orders from you, ser."

Later, in the hauler, Romputal informed Granz "You're going to be assigned to first tilaton under Second Lieutenant Ketarmetz. His tilaton sergeant is on leave so you're gonna have to suck it up."

Romputal then gestured towards Ketarmetz and several other officers. "So here's the Lieutenant right here, at post noon." Granz then took a look at his newly assigned lieutenant. "He's a serlet, Hollo, right out of Officer Training School. He's been with us for several fortnights but I think he's snap."

It was then did Romputal notice the look upon Granz's face. "It's just Crisis Relief Efforts, brattle, he's in charge. Just keep an eye on him, eh?"

In response, Granz smirked and stated "Just don't lose my paper work."

Soon enough, Granz and Ketarmetz met and exchanged the usual pleasantries and honors before Granz asked. "We're called in for the crisis relief efforts, Lieutenant, with these meteors?"

"I assume so, what with what little time we have." Ketarmetz answered. "Whatever they are, I'm glad I'm finally able to get on the field with my sars."

* * *

Back within his office at Television Select Systems, Melg had just shooed away a fellow employee as he awaited the computator readouts and completely oblivious to the latest development upon the monitors behind him. Soon enough, he got his printout and approached Nolgit and numerous other employees clustered around a monitor. "Neigh, Nolgit, listen to this, I've got a lock on the pattern on the new signal so we can actually filter it out for good. But if my calculations are right, it's gonna be gone in like a few daes anyway. It's reducing itself every time it recycles, so eventually it's gonna disappear…" It was then did Melg noticed that he had no one's attention. "You listening?"

"Can you believe this?" Nolgit asked Melg, who was somewhat confused. "Melg, haven't you been watching?" He then gestured to the monitor. "Melg!"

It was then did Melg saw his ex-wife, Loralla, take the podium. "Thank you general. Good post noon. So far the group of bodies known only as the Jolly Cluster have not caused any immediate damage."

Within the Seelse caravan, Broi and Yssinifae watched the announcement.

"It's just so unreal." Broi commented.

Yssinifae then gestured for Ulell's approach. "Oi, Ulell, come over here." He did so and stood transfixed to the distorted images on the monitor.

Once several possible locations were listed, including the same island as Television Select Systems, one of the employees approached Nolgit and caught his attention. "Tillip said that this building has an old bombardment shelter. We're headed down there now."

Noligt then turned to the other employees gathered around them. "Alright. Um, everybody, head down to the cellar! Take it slow. Don't run, walk to the cellar!" As the other employees began to evacuate themselves to the lowest floors, he turned towards Melg. "There's no shame in hiding." Then he remembered an important factoid. "Oh, I better call my mother…!"

At the Seelse caravan, Broi, Yssinifae and Ulell then noticed something strange outside their window as the landscape darkened. As they exited, they looked up and were terrifyingly awestruck at what they witnessed above them.

Within one of the many suburbs that stood opposite of the shoreline and the Yolumo NI Camp, an automobile filled with sarlets and driven by a housewife stopped before a house. A young sarlet stepped off from the automobile as the housewife turned to tell the young child. "Billis, tell your Kon you can stay overnight on Burasdae-"

She was interrupted as several automobiles sailed over the hill before them. Curiously, she turned to see why those drivers had driven so dangerously and saw something terrifying in the sky. In a panic, she accelerated down the road and left a momentarily confused Billis. Then he turned his attention skyward and, in that moment, knew what he had to do.

Billis rushed into his house and went towards his mother's bed chamber. "Konna! Lookit!"

With half-asleep eyes, Billis' mother only noticed how everything is darker. "It's too early, serleti." And she returns back into the arms of her Naval Infantry Aviator lover.

"What was it?" The NI Aviator, Captain Teeve Kureller, groaned from slumber.

"It's nothing important, go back to sleep." She advised Kureller, and he does so.

With a worried shrug, Billis left the bed chamber.

The capital of Arenni was drenched in the same sky darkness as Lyssa escaped her nanny and rushed towards her father in worried fear as he was in the middle of a call with a foreign leader.

"Of course, Kubari and the United Isles are in this together. Aren't we all not part of the Greater League of Nations as a result?" A pause as Delvis answered. "Yes, Your Excellentcy, you have my word. ….Yes, Drel Volgotha."

"What's their position?" Loralla asked.

"I think he was drunk." Delvis answered.

"Monna!" Lyssa cried out as she ran towards him.

"What are you doing here?" Delvis, interrupted from another phone call, scooped Lyssa into his arms. "You should be down in the shelter."

"What's going on?" Lyssa asked in a hushed, frightened tone as she held Delvis tightly and he her.

"Your Excellency, we have to go." A Presidential Guard advised Delvis.

As numerous employees from Television Select Systems and other similar occupants rushed down the staircase and towards the shelter, Melg instead rushed upwards.

"Aren't you coming Melg?" One evacuating occupant asked.

"I gotta see this." Melg then reached the rooftop and was able to get a clear view of what the Jolly Cluster actually, truly was, and was frozen from the realization.

Numerous cities all over New Turbak were covered in the same sky darkness as the phenomenon known as the Jolly Cluster became global. The Wessari citizens then, out of rabid curiosity, looked skyward and stared in terrified awe at what they saw.

Starships. Massive starships that, though orbited so far away, littered the sky to such a degree that they collectively cast a shadow across the entire planet. There were so many that it was impossible for one Wassari to count.

Initially, many were just as slack jawed and frozen from the visage of these alien starships alone. Then, one by one, as if they were stricken with the genetic memory of the horrific air raids from the last Great War over a century ago, panic erupted. Distracted drivers found themselves in accidents, unattended vehicles then turned into scrap, and people ran and were trampled upon in order to flee to safety as the air was littered with the horrified screams of those in panic from high above. Yet, in all the chaos not a single one had ever asked themselves or anyone else the question: Where can they go? The alien starships were everywhere.

Melg looked down to the computator readout and a terrible realization washed over him. "The signal….! Great Mother…"

From the balcony of the Presidential Palace, as other staff was gathered to observe the new and more alien sky, Loralla leaned in towards Delvis and inquired. "Now what do we do?"

"Address the nation." Delvis answered. "There's going to be a lot of frightened people out there."

"Yeah," Loralla replied with a shiver down her spine. "I'm one of them."

* * *

And the Greater Terran Union has finally arrived in force. Though the Wessari are now pissing themselves in fear, they have no idea what has been brought to their doorstep. Next chapter will have just as much poetic license, if not more so, than the last. Especially since I have no clue how big these ships from Stellaris are in real life so I'm probably off by a VERY wide margin.

Still, anyone have any fun guessing which scene came from which movie? I know I… Kinda didn't, now that I think about it.

But for now, flames and brutally honest reviews are not required. I know how the whole setup sounds stupid, I'm that much self-aware of it so I don't need help on that front.


	3. Rods from God

**Conquest of the Wessari**

And here's chapter number three. It would have been nice if I had finished this story before the last Twitch stream, but at least I got something. And I did ask both Mark and Larissa about the whole fanfiction of the GTU lore thing on the live stream and they basically said don't make money off of it. As if I could. Besides, there's bigger fish that'll try to eat me worse than the Templin Institute and are worth the worry. Would have been nice if there was a shout out during the livestream by them, but it is what it is I guess.

Well, at least a brit and fellow fanfiction writer known by the screen name of thebronzedragon1 (btw, the pen name's Number 2415 L.S if anyone's wondering) seemed to tolerate it enough. So that's something, right?

And speaking of which, he left a review.

 **Number 2415 L.S** – Glad that you liked what I've written so far. Personally, I think it could have been done better but my authorial paygrade isn't exactly high enough to do so.

 **Stark Savior-the mad engineer** – *Looks at Templin Archive episodes on larger monitor* …Son of a- It IS spelled that. I could have sworn that it was spelled with an "a" rather than an "e". Huh, I actually got it right the first time.

Then again, I did try to watch these videos on this dinky little computer monitor hand-me-down I got here so that might explain a few things. Either way, it's been edited by now.

And before we begin, the evils of copyright protection i.e. making sure I ain't sued to heck and back and back to heck again.

 **Disclaimer** **:** The basic intellectual properties that inspired this story are not own by the author. Stellaris is owned by Johan Andersson and Paradox Interactive, while the setting of Stellaris Invicta is inspired by the let's play webseries of the same name by the Templin Institute YouTube channel. Independence Day is owned by 20th Century Fox, Rolland Emmerich and Dean Delvin. Battle: Los Angeles is owned by Colombia Pictures, Jonathan Liebesman, Jeffrey Chernov, David Greenblatt, and Christopher is owned by Buena Vista Pictures, Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer, Gale Anne Hurd, Johnathan Hensleigh, and J.J. Abrams. Please support the respective official release of each property however possible.

 **Rods from God**

The alien fleet of starships, code named Jolly Cluster, surrounded New Turbak in a kind of perverse, artificial layer of atmosphere that ensured complete coverage. Nothing was beyond the gaze of the extrasolar crafts and no Wessari could look up into a sky clear of such construction from beyond their world. There was no escape no matter where one could roam, but many did try in vain.

Still, many questions remained as to what these aliens were and why they had come to their solar system, their world. Little do the Wessari realize that such answers would be revealed before the end of the fortnight.

In the meanwhile, Naval Infantry Aviator Captain Teeve Kureller was rudely awoken when his lover's braggit climbed onto the bed and delivered his footwear. He was not all too pleased. "What the- come on, come on…!"

His lover, Hunabloom, turned to him. "Scooner's just trying to impress you."

Kureller then crawled out of bed. "You wanna impress me, you need to get a job and stop glibbering over my getas."

Soon enough, Kureller was in the middle of his morning relief ritual in the bathroom when he spied Hunabloom's neighbors frantically packing. "I don't believe this." He then called out. "Hunabloom, the neighbors are moving out. Guess they got tired of all the poo doo that's been going on." As he finished up, he muttered to himself. "Shakin' and runnin' and everything."

Once Kureller was more properly dressed sans a shirt, he turned the knob that activated the television. The audio and video quality was still poor but a few words leaked about the emergency phone number being overwhelmed and some mentions of chaos and rioting. "Guess someone lost a game or something, typical…."

It was then did Billis crawl through the braggit door with a toy ray gun. "What's up, sar?"

Billis then looked up. "Hey, Teeve."

"What are you doing out there?"

"Shooting the aliens."

"Oh, shooting aliens, right?" Kureller then starts to playfully pat down Billis in what he believed to be a game for the sarlet. "You think you tough, huh? What you got? Turn around. Let me see what you got." Billis could only giggle in reply. Hunabloom then lead Scooner into the kitchen to feed him, only to be assaulted by Kureller's barrage of kisses.

He then left Hunabloom's house to retrieve the newspaper, nearly tripped on one of Billis' toys and cursed a storm from the stubbed hoof. With the paper in hand, Kureller then began to read the news. However he was unable to even read an article as from the corner of his eyes he noticed that the entire neighborhood block was piling their automobiles with their belongings in the same kind of panic he had witnessed earlier. It was the passing of a law enforcer helicopter did his eyes look to the sky and saw exactly why his neighbors were leaving in such a rush. He stood there frozen as he witnessed a sky littered with alien spacecraft.

Hunabloom then rushed outside with a cup of morning brew. "Serle, do you want some of this?" She noticed that he did not answer her. "Serle?" She then followed his line of sight and gasped at what she saw.

Between them, Billis emerged and playfully fired his toy ray gun at the alien starships as the cup slipped from Hunabloom's hooved digits.

* * *

Melg rushed down the stairs with all his worth and headed back to the offices of Television Select Systems only to find the space vacant of any employees with the monitors playing numerous special bulletins to absolutely no one.

"I know, Ko, just try and stay calm!" Melg turned to see Nolgit hiding beneath a desk with a reciever in his ear.

"Tell her to pack up and leave town."

Nolgit turned towards Melg. "Why? What happened?"

"Just do it!" Nolgit never heard Melg speak in such a loud tone, enough evidence to know that whatever had him worried was serious enough to warrant the attention and direction.

"Oh, Ko. Ko, listen." Nolgit returned to his current call to his mother as he stood up from underneath the desk. "Get your stuff together and head for Tinyo Urena…. Don't argue with me. Just go!" He hung up the receiver before he rushed to catch up with Melg. "Melg, why did I just send my konnati to Esruta? Melg!"

Melg then exited his cubicle with several pieces of equipment which included his portable computator. "Melg, talk to me."

"Did you hear me tell you about that the hidden signal in the satellite feed is slowly recycling itself down to extinction?"

"Not really."

"It's a count down."

"A countdown?" Nolgit repeated as he let the information sink into his brain. It didn't stick. "Wait. A countdown to what, Melg?"

"Uh… It's like in Ti-non: First you strategically position your pieces, then, when the timing's right, you… strike."

"Aren't chance cubes involved?"

"Not important." Melg then points to a news report that shows the movements of the Jolly Cluster in orbit. "See? They're positioning themselves all over the globe, using this one signal to coordinate their efforts. In approximately," Melg looked down to his original notes. "Six daes, the signal's gonna disappear and the countdown will be over."

"And then what?" Nolgit urged.

Melg could barely bring himself to speak the word. "Pumbaa."

It was then did Nolgit understand the implications not unlike a punch to the stomach. "Great Mother… Great Mother! I gotta call my kin-sar. I'd better call my housemaid. I gotta call my solicitor-" He then gave it a second thought before he picked up a nearby receiver. "Eh, melk my solicitor."

It was then did the image of President Delvis J. Norgrem of the United Isles of Arenni was prominent on all the monitors. "Good post noon. My fellow Arennias, a historic and unprecedented event has occurred. The question of whether or not we are alone in the universe has been answered. Although it's understandable that many of us feel a sense of hesitation or even fear, we must attempt to reserve better judgement."

Loralla, who was behind the scenes, was unable to listen to the rest of Delvis' speech when an aid approached her with a cellular phone who, on the other line, claimed to be her husband. Too quickly she knew exactly who had called her as she took the cellular phone and whispered "What do you want?"

"You've got to leave the Presidential Palace." Melg warned over the phone.

"This is neither hardly the time nor the place to be having the same old discussion!" Loralla could barely keep her voice down as if it felt like she had gone through this countless times with Melg.

"You don't understand. You've gotta leave Gordarel, go somewhere isolated and high anywhere, away from Isrador."

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, we are having a little bit of a crisis."

"They're communicating with a hidden signal, probably to keep us blind while spying on us at the same time. They're going to attack."

"You are just being paranoid!" An aid hushed her and Loralla quickly apologized quietly.

"It's not paranoia. The embedding is very subtle. It's probably being overlooked. If-" Loralla ended the call before he could even present his evidence. It was then Melg noticed that Nolgit was still within the office, even still close to him. "Nolgit, what are you doing? Get out of town as fast as you can. Please."

"Okay. Okay." Nolgit agreed.

Delvis then concluded his speech. "My staff and myself will remain in the Presidential Palace as we attempt to establish communication alongside the Greater League of Nations. If you feel compelled to leave these cities, these islands, please do so in an orderly manner."

With a determined look, Melg cycles out of Television Select Systems and away from the building. All he found was absolute anarchy and pandemonium as the city continues to flee to anywhere where one could feel remotely safe and secure from the Jolly Cluster overhead.

* * *

Kureller, now in his Naval Infantry Officer's uniform, begins to pack all of his belongings in a duffel bag as he prepares to depart to the NI Aviator Base. Hunabloom is very visibly upset from this action. "Nu-uh, come on, you can't go. You've got to call them." She nearly demanded.

"I'm not going to do this with you Hunabloom. I've got to report to Yu Zeglo.

"But you said you were on leave for the solstice!"

"Yeah, well, they cancelled it!" The annoyed and detracted look upon Hunabloom's face made him regret his outburst. "Look, why are you acting like this?"

"Why?" She rapidly trots towards a nearby window, rip open the shades and gestures outside to a sky filled with the Jolly Cluster. "THAT'S why! Those things scare the uric out of me!"

Krueller then approached Hunabloom and rubbed her shoulders and spoke in a soothing voice. "Look, I really don't think they flew twenty-eight billion parsecs to come down here and start a fight. Get all squeal-wild. Look, why don't you just relax. I'm gonna report to Yu Zeglo and find out what's going on."

Krueller, with duffel bag in hand, then walks towards his convertible automobile. There found Billis in the driver's seat and play-drove. "Hey, what are you doing in there, sar?" He playfully asked.

"Nothing, I'm just driving." Billis continued to pretend drive as Krueller placed his duffel bag in the rear seat. Then, from the duffel bag, he handed a smaller paper bag to Billis.

"Look, I got these for you."

Billis opened the bag to find firecrackers. "Scorch poppers! Cool."

"Now, you be careful." Krueller warned as he lifted Billis out of the convertible just as Hunabloom caught up with him.

"I want to tell you something."

"What is it Hunabloom?"

She hesitated for but a moment before she spoke once again. "You take care of yourself, you hear?"

Krueller shifts his stance before he spoke as well. "Look, um… why don't you get some things packed, and you and Billis can stay with me on the base." Hunabloom then looked back up to him. "And you will see that there is nothing to be scared of."

"Really? You don't mind?"

It was then did Krueller attempted to turn a serious situation more lighthearted with a smile. "Well, I mean, uh… I will have to let all my other siel'braea that they can't come over, you know, and got to postpone a little squeally-willy."

"There you go, there you go, thinking that you're all that." Hunabloom countered with a wide smile upon her face. "But you are not as charming as you think you are, ser."

"Yes, I am."

"Them big ol' Trilga ears."

"Well, look at you with them harkle legs." Krueller replied with a cluck. Hunabloom responded with a passionate but still chaste kiss. Billis was still around.

"Come on, Billis, yinnel." Hunabloom then took Billis back to the house as Krueller climbs into his convertible and drives off. It was then did she notice the bag of scorch poppers and took them from his grasp whom immediately complained. "I'll take these."

* * *

Later that day, Melg finally reached the hatch house of his father, Hulish, as he finally navigated through the chaos of self-imposed evacuation of the entire city. He was met with a shotgun to the face that he narrowly avoided and grabbed the barrel. "Whoh!"

"Sorry, Melg." Hulish pulled back the shotgun. "The news station talked about the looting already starting. Zoloqs…."

"You still have the Dyloth?"

"You want to borrow the auto? Melg, you don't have the card."

"You're driving." Melg answered as he stepped around his father and inside the hatch house.

"Yeah, I'm driving- I'm driving?" Hullish looked back to Melg with confused surprise.

"Come on, come on."

Back in Gordarel, in his bedroom within the Presidential Palace, Delvis spoke to his wife through the telephone, pleaded even as she was still on the opposite end of the archipelago. "I really want you out of Nor Plagas."

"You're staying there to calm people down." Vinnarette replied. "It's the right thing to do. I'm not going to let them criticize you for doing it."

"I appreciate you trying to help me, especially these last fortnights-"

"Liar. Stick to the truth, you're good at it."

"Alright. I'll tell you the truth. I don't want you in any of those cities."

Vinarette sighed before she continued. "I'll leave as soon as the interviews are done."

"Alright." Delvis breathed a sigh of relief as Lyssa climbed onto the bed with her father and watched the television monitor. "There's a helicopter waiting. They're going to take you to Hullist."

"And the squatlet?"

"She's going to meet you there."

"Alright. I love you." Delvis replied in kind as the call ended just as the television spoke of all known forms of communications failing to establish first contact with the Jolly Cluster overhead.

General Nerus and Minister of Defense Farsal Qanmata then appeared from the doorway. Delvis then approached them. "So what's the latest update?"

"Secretary General Bretangu Yuliprae wants to use Skynet to contact the League Space station. The Security Council just might have an idea but they need to relay it to them."

"The BNAS Director doesn't have the authority to let a foreign entity access to the stratosats even if it's the League." Qanmata added, in reference to the high altitude platform stations created and deployed by the United Isles. Delvis, confused, turned to General Nerus.

General Nerus then gestured with his head. "His idea."

"We could barely get the laser datalink network to work properly between them, let alone to orbit last I heard." Delvis shrugged his shoulders. "And the laser antennae module isn't even ready for its first test."

"Normally they wouldn't need to with all the satellites in orbit." General Nerus answered. "But with them so unreliable at the moment, they can't risk it. So they want cooperation with the Curarro Space Agency, Kubacosmos, and the Xling National Aerospace Bureau with BNAS but we're the only ones with laser datalink capacity for a guaranteed connection to the space station. Xling was more stubborn about it than Qanmata though."

"Even if we do get Skynet to work like that, what are they planning to do?" Delvis questioned.

Soon enough, Melg and Hullish were on one of the many congested roadways that lead out of the city. "It's the Presidential Palace, for scrawling out loud. You can drive up and hit the knocker."

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Melg asked in slight concern.

"What, you think they don't know what you know? They know. Believe me, they know. She works for the President. They know everything."

"They don't know about this." Melg countered forebodingly.

"Oh, oh. You're going to tutor them, huh? So tell me something. If you're so smart, how come you spent eight cours in JIT to become a cable fixsar?"

It was that subject again. "Mon…"

"All I'm saying is that they got people who handle these things, Melg." Hullish interrupted. "They want DTB, they'll call you." He then scanned the road before them. "Look at these people. Look. Huh? Zoloqs. They take and then they go."

"They're going. They're going faster than we are. Look at this; we're in the quick line!"

"I can't go any faster, they're jumping me off."

"No one's jumping you off, we're gonna get a slip!"

"They're getting in front of me, I can't go any faster."

"Alright, alright. I don't want to debate, I don't want to debate." Melg hushed. "Let's just get there as quickly as possible!"

"What's the rush?" Hullish reasonably asked. "You think we'll get to Gordarel and it won't be there?" The foreboding look upon Melg's face was all the answer he needed as Hullish drove the Dyloth faster than he usually drove.

* * *

Back upon Camp Yolumo, First Tilaton of Second Lieutenant Ketarmetz had begun to check over their gear and supplies for their post in the evacuation, all the while Corporal Jahl Elavi complained and searched for a missing pastry, rifled through all of his fellow NI's gear. Soon enough, idle chat then moved to their new tilaton sergeant.

"Corporal!" Spear Corporal Ulban Tolls finally got Corporal Kee Buutgles's attention.

"Yes?"

"Probably just a training exercise, right?" Tolls inquired.

"Nay, sar. Shifting Granz to our unit, something must be going on." Buutgles answered as he pointed upwards. "Probably about you know who."

"Great… The sar want's to leave the Naval Infantry and we're stuck with him…" Tolls groaned.

"I heard that Granz kicked buttocks his last tour." Private Uttersar added to the conversation. "I mean he went into that compound alone and took out, like, ten remnants didn't he?"

Such words were enough to rile up Corporal Lop Varnap and approach the private to confront him. "Is that what you heard, Uttersar? Huh? That's what you heard?"

Buutgles prevented Varnap from the escalation of what was little more than a minor mistake as Uttersar answered Varnap honestly. "Yeah, I heard from Jellbar in Feltek was going on like- What the naga did I do?"

Buutgles stopped Uttersar from any further comment as he spoke. "Granz got a couple of sars killed in his last tour."

"What are you talking about?"

"That's the story." Buutgles then elaborated. "Varnap's kin-sel was one of them."

With the realization, Uttersar attempted to apologize to Varnap. But a chance was never available as it became close to redeployment time as each one on duty call were ordered to the armory to retrieve their assault rifles. It was in the middle of this did one of the NI troopers notice on one of the monitor a news report that featured a snippet image of one of their armored carrier vehicles. "That's us! That's us yidi!"

On the way to the briefing, Lieutenant Ketarmetz and Staff Sergeant Hollo Granz exchanged words. "Looks like we're getting into some heavy poo doo." The lieutenant noted.

"It's been my life experience, lieutenant, heavy poo doo is highly overrated." Granz replied.

"Look, Staff Sergeant, let's just be clear." Ketarmetz began "I know of your rep and I know what you've done. This is my tilaton, these are my sars. We're not going to have a problem, are we?"

"No problem, ser." Granz answered. "She's all yours."

* * *

Atop the Seelse caravan that evening, as streams of transports, automobiles, and vehicles drove down the roads and away from the cosmopolitan island of Nor Plagas, Ulell attempted to fix the television antennae to get a better reception with limited success. It was then did a local news station began to run a report. "A local crop flyer was arrested todae as he papered civic hall with leaflets." Ulell was mortified to the core as the report continued with images of the incident recorded earlier that day.

"Can you give us a moment of your time?" The reporter in the recording asked a handcuffed Coyall as he was lead into a law enforcer cruiser. "Do you want to make a statement?"

"We've got to stop them! I was kidnapped by space aliens ten cours ago. They did all kinds of experiments on me. They've been studying us for years, finding out our weaknesses. We've got to stop them! They're gonna kill us all!"

It would explain where Coyall had been for the entire day, to Ulell's chagrin, as the report continued. "Though some have attributed his eccentric behavior post-traumatic stress disorder from his service as a pilot in Xembra. Others however have a more… unusual theory." The image then switched to the same flight mechanics from the local airport as they were interviewed in an earlier recording.

"How would you describe Mesar Seeles?" The reporter asked.

"Keeps himself private, quiet." Terris Melsil answered.

"Real quiet." Nilk Bradge added. Then the image switched to a close up of his face. "When they took them up in their spaceship, the aliens abused him. Sexually."

Ulell could only sigh in exasperation as the report continued. "Mesar Seeles is placed in the sarep lock up this evening." It was then did he hear Broi's ascension up the ladder did he switched to another channel. This time, it featured Vinarette.

"…We need to remain calm." Broi then sat next to Ulell. "As more people decide to leave the cities, safety is key…"

Ulell then turned to Broi as the report continued. "Broi, you remember kin-monei Turvek, from Hukvul?"

"He's got that CEVRA Konic, 512 bit, right?"

"Yeah. What would you think if we went there to live for a while?"

"That'd be cool!" It was all Ulell needed as justification.

"Pack up, we're going." He then jumped from the roof of the caravan as Broi climbed down the ladder.

"Ulell, what about mon?" Broi called out.

At a nearby automobile, Yssinifae and some other adolescent boy older that she was, were in the back seat. "This could be our last evening on Turbak. You don't want to expire unmated, do you?"

"What makes you think I'm unmated?" Yssinifae replied as they leaned closer.

Just then, Ulell opened the car door. "Come on. We're going."

"No. I'm not going anywhere." Yssinifae disagreed, whose own argument was rendered mute as Ulell pulled her out of the automobile and dragged her to the caravan.

With everything ready, Ulell began to drive the caravan from the community park. Only to suddenly slam on the breaks as another, itself already loaded with miscellaneous belongings and supplies, stopped and dropped off Coyall. "Thanks a lot, bruddy! And remember, get as far away from these things as you can!"

It was then, when Coyall spotted the caravan and the kids, did Ulell turn back to Broi and Yssinifae before he stepped out. "Stay here."

"You read my thoughts! We gotta get as far away from these things as we can!"

"They let you out?"

"You're damned right!" Coyall answered, the thought of how Ulell knew that he was incarcerated never crossed his mind as he slapped him on the back. "They got bigger blurgs to fry now, believe you me. Come on, sel!"

"We're leaving. Without you." Ulell declared. "We're going to live with kin-monei Turvek in Hukvul."

"Turvek?" Coyall then laughed it off. "The naga you are. I'm still your father."

It was then, that everything Ulell had suppressed for all these years, finally reached the boiling point as he exploded. "No, you're not! You're just the sar that married my mother! You're nothing to me at all!"

Stunned from the outburst, Ulell soon found a counterargument. "Oh, well… What about Broi?"

"Broi?"

"Yeah."

"For once in your life why don't you think about what's best for him? Who has to beg for money to buy him medicine when you screw up? Huh? Who?"

"Stop it right now!" Ulell and Coyall then turned their attention to Broi, who had a smashed medicine bottle on the ground. "I'm not a serleti anymore! I don't want your stupid medicine anymore because I'm so sick of medicine!"

Agasped from the broken medicine bottle, Ulell rushed to Broi in a fury. "You know what this stuff costs? Do you want to get sick again? Do you?!" He then shoves Broi back into the caravan as Coyall stood there, speechless.

* * *

Within one of the Naval Infantry Aviator Locker Rooms, several pilots congregated around a monitor that detailed the news of the Jolly Cluster overhead. However, such rapture came to a swift end the moment Captain Krueller entered the room. "I think we can do something better with our time gentlesars."

However, of all the NI Aviators that was present around the monitor only one broke away as Drillic Squaldre chased after Krueller all the way to his locker. "Were've you been Teevie? Sar, this is unbelievable, this is like huge, they've recalled EVERYBODY!"

It was then did Krueller notice the envelope that was stuck to the side of his locker door. "Oh. Well it looks like the postage service's still working." He yanked it out as he would have of any other piece of mail. But, when he turned it over to see whom the envelope was from, the logo of the Bureau of National Aeronautics and Space was embroidered and prominent. Krueller, his heart in his throat, then passed it to Squaldre. "You got to do the honors for me."

"You're a kus." Squaldre teased with a deep smile.

"Yeah, whatever. Shut up and read it." Squaldre did so as he opened the envelope and unfolded the letter within.

"It says 'Captain Teeve Krueller,' loser. 'United Isles Naval Infantry…'"

"Come on!" Krueller stood there nervously as Squaldre skimmed through the pomp and circumstances that made up the bulk of the letter.

Squaldre's tone then became sullen as he read the line "…'We regret to inform you that despite your excellent record of service…'" Little more needed to be said. "I'm sorry sar. I mean, they make you learn how to fly everything from a Karanki to a Verrier and still they turned you down? What else do they want you to learn?"

"How to kiss buttocks." Krueller solemnly as he opened his locker to change into his flight suit. Within the door of the locker were not only still images of Hunabloom and himself when they were dating, but also various images of space exploration such as astronauts, space shuttles, and even the BNAS insignia.

"Exactly!" Squaldre exclaimed. "You need to like, kiss some serious buttie to get ahead in this world, sar. That's what I've been telling you." Squaldre then goes down onto one knee to illustrate his point. "See, I go with the single kree approach, because it puts the buttie, like right in front of the-" He didn't finish as he noticed a small box fall from Krueller's locker. To Krueller's internal embarrassment, Squaldre picked it up first. "What's this?"

"That's nothing." Krueller attempted, and failed, to retrieve the box before Squaldre opened it up.

"Hold on, sar." He then sees that within was a custom ordered ring with a diamond encircled by aquatic animals. "What is this?"

"Hunabloom has a thing for Jeelphas. I don't know." The embarrassment Krueller felt barely made him able to say the words out loud.

"Yid, this is a seal band!" It was then did both Krueller and Squaldre notice someone stare at the both of them. They turned their heads and found a fellow Naval Infantry Aviator reach out for a bar of soap before he walked away backwards and uncomfortably. The moment they realized what this entire setup appeared, Squaldre stood up and leaned close to Krueller and whispered. "I thought you said that you were going to break the whole thing off?"

Krueller took the wedding ring back and obviously conflicted. "Yeah…"

"Sar, you know I really like Hunnabloom. You know that right?" Krueller nodded. "Sar, you're never going to get to fly the space lifter if you marry a derober."

Back in Nor Plagas, Hunabloom was in the middle of a performance as an erotic dancer only to quit before it truly began as she saw that the audience was more raptured by the news of the Jolly Cluster than her own performance. Thus she decided to conclude her routine earlier than normal as she entered the dressing room. "I just came to pick up my salary and I got talked into working. Oh, I must be slipping!" She complained as she removed her makeup.

Close to her, fellow erotic dancer and friend Reillae watched the same report on a smaller monitor, noticeably enraptured by all those who are in parties and in celebration of the Jolly Cluster's arrival. "This is so chill."

"Siel, please!" Hunabloom rolled her eyes as she changed into more appropriate attire.

It was then did Reillae remembered. "Oh, hey! I made it before I came tonight." She then showed Hunabloom a sign similar to the party goers reported on the news. It was a drawing of a stereotypical Tyrum alien from old twenty-nine forty pulp speculative fiction movies with the caption 'WELCOME! MAKE YOURSELVES AT HOME!'

Hunabloom, for her turn, did not like what Reillae had planned. "Check it out."

"Now I know you're not thinking about joining those idiots." She spoke in reference to the party goers featured in the news report.

"Oh, I am going there as soon as I get off. You want to come?" Reillae offered.

Instead, Hunabloom approached Reillae with a look of dead seriousness. "Reillae, listen to me for a tick. I've got a really bad feeling about this. I don't want you to go."

"Oh, like that really bad feeling you got when I went to Nor Yevas?"

"Yeah, and I was right. You didn't get the job and you lost all of your money betting."

It took Reillae a moment to think of a good comeback to the debate. "Yeah, but I wasn't in NP for the turbak-quake."

"Reil, I really don't want you to go up there. Now promise me you won't."

"No."

"Come on siel, promise me." With heavily reluctance, Reillae agreed. "Okay. Look, I'm going to be out of town for a while. Later." Hunabloom then entered the office of her employer, who was less than pleased that there was both a child and a braggit within.

"What the naga's your sarlet doing here-" Hunabloom's employer, Urakis, was interrupted when Scooner jumped up to say hello. "No! Down! Bad braggy!"

"You try finding a squatty today." Hunabloom retorted as she scooped up Brillis. She then turned to leave the office and Scooner jumped off Urakis to follow.

"Hey! Hey! Where do you think you're going? You leave, you're unemployed!" Urakis threatened.

"Nice working with you, Urakis." Hunabloom retorted and left the building.

* * *

Several days have past and, after various trans-channel tunnels and bridges, the Dyloth model of Melg and Hullish have finally reached Isrador and were but on the outskirts of Gordarel. The impromptu road trip finally eased up as there were absolutely no other automobiles on their side of the roadway.

"Everyone on Tubrak is trying to get out of Gordarel, and we're the only shleckens trying to get in!" Hullish commented. It was then, as the radio reported on the latest attempts at communications with the Jolly Cluster an abject failure, did Hullish notice Melg pull out his personal computator and inserted a data disk into the tray. "What the naga is that?"

"Mon, this is every phonebook in Arenni." Melg explained as the program loaded up and displayed upon the monitor.

"You think that an important person like Loralla is going to be listed?"

"She always has her cellular phone listed for emergencies. Sometimes it's just her first initial, sometimes it's her nickname, sometimes it's just…" Melg then typed in the search command.

None could blame Hullish for his complacency at that moment. It was expected that only one side of the road can go in a certain flow and with their side completely deserted, it was a chance to not pay too much attention to the road.

It was only with the glare of headlights upon his glasses did Hullish look up to view oncoming traffic. "GREAT MOTHER!" And did his best attempt to avoid a head-on collision from essentially everyone that fled Gordarel.

"Hey, hey, hey! Slow down!" The sudden actions caused Melg to look up from his computator. "Look at all these people."

Their only avenue of escape, however, was blocked off by the presence of a freight hauler as Hullish avoided another collision. "Stop!"

"Tell them! Tell them!" Hullish countered.

"Slow down!"

"I'm trying!"

It was then did Melg notice an opportunity to escape. "Off-ramp!"

Hullish did a hard turn and the Dyloth avoided traffic barricades as it hugged the shoulder and road off the off-ramp. It took them a few moments for them to recover from the experience when Melg turned to his father. "Nice driving, mon!"

"Yeah, tell that to my poor pumper in my throat…." Hullish countered and, once more the only vehicle upon this side of the road, the Dyloth continued its journey to Gordarel. It was then did the duo noticed that several military and law enforcement officers redirect traffic. "I guess that'll explain that little traffic faux pas just now."

Melg returned to his search and Hullish leaned towards his son, though more vigilant of the road this time. "Not listed, huh?"

"Nay, nay, I just haven't found it yet." Melg answered. "I tried L Tuburik, Lorry Tuburik, Spenky Tubrik-"

"Spenky?"

"College nickname." Melg answered.

"Cute." Then Hullish thought of an idea. "You try Tellus?"

Melg turned to his father confused. "She didn't take my name when we were sealed. Why would she? What are you talking about?"

"Try it."

"Okay, here, look." Melg replied with a shrug to his shoulders, with little if any expectation if the idea would work. It would appear that his father was right as Loralla's number was listed.

"So what do I know, huh?" Hullish noted with slight smugness in his tone.

Soon enough, the Dyloth arrived at the Presidential Palace whose gates were swarmed with protestors who disagreed with the Greater League of Nation's decision, and by extension the United Isles of Arenni, to have military forces and peacekeepers attempt first contact.

With the automobile stopped, Hullish leaned to Melg who was on a cellular phone. "So… you want to hit the knocker or shall I?"

It was then did Melg hear the familiar occupied tone, exactly what he was looking for. "Perfect, she's using it."

"Perfect? What's perfect? It's busy!"

"Yeah," Melg explained as he placed a minature satellite antenna atop the roof of the Dyloth. "I can use her signal to triangulate her exact position within the Presidential Palace."

"You can do that?" Hullish questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. All cable repairsars can do that, mon." Melg answered in a dry and sarcastic tone.

Within one of the many corridors of the Presidential Palace, Loralla was in the middle of a call as she listens in on the news program featured upon a nearby monitor. "The Jolly Cluster had arrived but the President has remained in the Presidential Palace. Question: Are his excellency Norgrem's actions a) ultra-brave or b) foolhardy?"

"Sella, take my cat with you when you leave… No, I'm staying in the Presidential Palace… Take care." Loralla had then ended the call, only for her cellular phone to ring again almost immediately. She then answered. "What?"

"Now, don't hang up, yinnel." It was Melg who called her, much to her shock and surprise.

"Melg! How did you get this number!" Loralla inquired in as soft as a voice as she could muster as to not attract unwanted attention upon her person.

"Uh, do me a favor. Walk to the window."

Loralla does so if only out of morbid curiosity. "And I'm looking for what?"

"You'll see." Loralla shifted the window drapes enough for her to look through the window. "Over here." She then spied, with now wide open eyes, Melg and Hullish next to the Dyloth. "See us?"

"How does he do that?" Loralla shook her head in disbelief in response to Melg's actions.

Within one of the many conference rooms within the Presidential Palace, Delvis and his staff watched and were simultaneously informed of events that unfolded upon the news report on the monitor within the room. Initially, there were images of news agencies that clustered before Aerospace Center Gullist and in particular BNAS Expeditionary Control. It then shifted to images of the Greater League Space Station and prominently featured a space tug retrofitted with huge panels and generators as the reporters explained that the tug was given a kind of visual communication array in lieu of first contact with the Jolly Cluster as all other communications attempts have failed.

Delvis turned to General Nerus as he sat down. "Where are we now?"

"They're on their way." General Nerus answered just as the improvised communication tug was deployed towards one of the Jolly Cluster starships.

Within the city of Neau Grelsh, a bike messenger had begun his rounds within the city that had somewhat calmed down from the hysteria of the Jolly Cluster's arrival to something remotely similar to everyday routine. With him is his small braggit he named Sarlet Rochen.

"Hey, little sar! Sarlet Rochen!" The bike messenger, Vrabin Wesslin, spoke to his pet and constant companion as he neared the end of his shift. "Me and you, sar! We're going to the top, sarleti! Big time! I ain't gonna be ridin' this cycle for the rest of my life. You know what I'm sayin'? I'm gettin' an enginecycle, sarleti! We're gonna travel in style."

Vrabin swerved in between automobiles in the still congested roadways and honked his bike horn at offenders. "Watch where you're goin'. I bet you, none of you all stop for kin-sels."

Back at the Presidential Palace, Loralla then lead Melg and Hullish towards the office of the President of the United Isles. "This is something I would never believe in my lifetime. That I would be in the Presidential Palace! Look at this! If I'd knew that I was going to meet the president, I'd have worn a tie. I mean look at me, I look like a glureel."

"You look fine, Mon." Melg reassured his father as Loralla lead them into the office, to which Hullish was quite impressed. He had only seen the interior through the monitor and screens of documentaries, television serials, and movies.

"Oy, Great Mother..!"

"Melg, I don't know how happy he's going to see you." Loralla mentioned.

"Yeah, that's right." Melg agreed. "I'm telling you, we're wasting time. He's not going to listen to me. We should go."

Hullish turned towards his son from these offhanded comments. "Why wouldn't he? Why wouldn't he listen?"

"'Cause last time I saw him, we, uh, got into a fight." Melg sheepishly answered. He had hoped that he wouldn't have to tell Hullish that.

"You walked into the room and punched him in the noggin." Loralla bluntly corrected.

Hullish turned back to his son with shocked eyes. "You punched the president?"

"He wasn't president then." Melg corrected. "I punched him, he punched back. We wrestled around, it was a fight."

"A fight that you started!" Loralla then turned towards Hullish. "Because Melg thought that I was having an affair."

Hullish turned to Melg in surprise once again. "With the president?"

"Which, of course, I wasn't!"

"Hey, hey!" Melg interrupted before the debate could continue. "You can either go get him or we should head for the Dyloth."

"Alright, I'll get him." Loralla finally agreed as she turned to get Delvis. "You wait here. And don't touch anything!"

Once Loralla was out of the office, Hullish turned back to Melg. "You punched the president? Brell Kotti…!"

High in orbit, the impromptu tug approached one of the Jolly Cluster starships in what was believed to be the nose of these alien spacecrafts. "Nearing point of contact, Gullist." The BNAS astronaut, Brete Frellis, reported over the radio. "We're closing in."

"Rodger that," A BNAS flight director spoke to the astronaut directly. "You can commence sequence when ready."

Back within the Presidential Palace, Melg had set up his computator upon the desk as Hullish looked around. "This I like. Look at this. You know what famous sari have been here? Huh? Huh?"

"Yes, Mon." Melg was more focused on the program before him.

"Lawmakers, mummers, ball athletes, bards… and now me." Hullish's eyes gleemed.

"Imagine that." Melg then intimidated Hullish's own voice, barely contained his own laughter. "Look, a poor immigrant like me, it's a dream!"

"Melg, shh! Please!"

Loralla then entered the conference room where nearly all of the presidential staffs and aids had observed the news program as the space tug made its final approach towards the Jolly Cluster. She then approached Delvis and whispered in his ear before he stood up and left the room. Only Qanmata turned towards the president. "You're leaving NOW?"

Delvis silenced him with a mere look before both he and Loralla left the room. She then turned to Delvis. "I don't know how you put up with him."

"He used to run ASI. He knows where all the bones are burried; comes in handy." Delvis answered.

"I'll bet."

Back within the presidential office, Hullish turned to Melg and asked. "Hey, see if they have those pens they give away."

With a cocked eyebrow, Melg looked up to his father in confusion. "Mon, what?"

It was then did Loralla and Delvis entered the room and the moment Delvis saw Melg's visage, he froze. He then turned to Loralla. "I don't have time for this…"

"Del, two mirrluts." Loralla half-begged.

"Lory, Lory."

"Just two mirrluts."

Hullish, sensed what needed to be done, approached Delvis to calm things down. "Your Excellency." Delvis' attention was turned towards Hullish as Loralla took the opportunity to approach Melg. "Your Excellency, Hullish Tellus. Uh, Melg is my sarlet."

"I told you he wouldn't listen." Melg debated with Loralla as he picked up his computator.

"Melg, you have to tell him now."

"Lory."

"Melg, tell him!" Loralla exclaimed which silenced the entire room as Melg sighed.

"Uh, I know why we have satellite disruption."

Delvis then approached Melg. "Alright. Go ahead."

"Okay. Um…" Melg then grabbed a pen and paper and started to draw a diagram of New Turbak. "Let's say you want to coordinate with spaceships on different sides of Turbak. You couldn't send a direct signal, right?" He then showed Delvis the doodled diagram.

"You're talking about line of sight."

"Yeah, that's right. Exactly." Melg then went back to doodle circles to represent satellites. "The curvature of Turbak prevents it. You'd need satellites to relay that signal in order to reach those ships."

Melg then looked up to Delvis. "Well, I found a signal hidden inside our own satellite system."

Delvis then pointed upwards. "Yeah, but there's a lot of them up there. Wouldn't it be redundant?"

Melg shook his head. "Not if you want to do more than to communicate and coordinate. The signal does more than facilitate communications between spacecraft. It simultaneously interferes with our own means of coordination and information sharing in addition to spy on us."

An aid appeared from the doorway. "Excuse me, Your Excellency. They're starting."

"They're using our own satellites against us." Melg then turned his computator around as a clock was prominent upon the monitor which shows that there are mere minutes left. "And the clock is ticking."

The impromptu communication space tug has how approached the desired vector before one of the Jolly Cluster starships. "Now matching velocity with Jolly Cluster starship, Gullist." Frellis reported, in an attempt to hide his nervousness and anxiety that slightly impaired his spaceflight abilities.

However, back upon BNAS Expeditionary Control, Director Velorsar saw the Frellis' bio readings. "His heart rate's racing." He noted to a flight director before he contacted Frellis directly. "Hey, Brete. It's Velorsar."

"Hey." Frellis replied.

"How are you doing up there, gross?"

"Pretty good."

"Listen, Brete, we got an eye on your meds here." Director Velosar continued. "I'll give you a grettali copper if you'll calm down just a little bit. Can you do that for me?"

"Whatever you say."

"Okay, now, we got plenty of time, sarleti, so don't you worry." Director Velosar reassured Frellis.

"Looking good here." The BNAS astronaut offhandedly replied as the space tug had matched velocity with the starship.

"He'll be alright." Director Velosar noted to the flight director.

"He'd better be." Liaison of the UI Aerospace Force, General Ulinsae, spoke. "We have the eyes of the entire planet looking at this and we can't afford a screw up. Not when we're this indebted to foreign space bureaus."

"Don't you worry, General." Director Velosar reassured General Ulinsae. "The League's plan for first contact is solid. All it needs is an answer."

"Initiating communications sequence, Gullist." Frellis reported as the large light panels illuminated in a repeating, sequential pattern. "Greeting Cart has commenced."

Delvis burst into the conference room with a forced look of command upon his face. "General Nerus. Coordinate with the League. Tell them to evacuate as many people as out of the cities as they can."

"Yes ser." General Nerus replied.

"And get that space tug away from the starship. Call them back immediately." Delvis added.

As General Nerus began to execute Delvis' orders, Qanmata turned towards the president. "What the naga's going on?"

"We're leaving." Delvis answered before he turned to another aid. "Dil, my sarlet."

"Uh… there's something happening." Frellis spoke as there was unknown activity upon one of the Jolly Cluster starships.

"They're responding." A presidential aid spoke out as the rest of the staff were now glued to the monitor in anticipation.

"Something's moving upon the fuselage of the starship- No, on other starships as well." Frellis further reported. "It looks like some kind of activity here. This may be some kind of response, Gullist."

It was certainly was a response as the red laser batteries of the nearby Jolly Cluster starships blasted through the space tug, with the final transmission was the haunting cry of Frellis for BNAS aid.

"W-what just happened?!" Director Velosar exclaimed.

General Ulinsae, for his part, barely whispered out "Great Mother…"

"We are evacuating." A presidential aid declared through a cellular phone. "I repeat; we are evacuating the Presidential Palace."

"Put the rest of the staff in the second rotor-lift!" General Nerus ordered as the high ranking staff such as the ministers, generals, and chairmen were loaded into the first helicopter.

Delvis then noticed a Naval Infantry Guard whom held both Melg and Hullish back. "They're okay. Let them on!" With great reluctance, the guard did so.

The president then turned to General Nerus. "Is my mate in the air?"

"She will be shortly." General Nerus said as he climbed into his seat.

As the helicopter doors were sealed, Hullish noticed the interior of the aircraft. "Nice, very nice." He then noticed a nearby receiver. "We have our own phone, look at that."

Melg was more concerned with the current countdown displayed upon his portable computator. There was precious little time left.

* * *

At her hotel suite at Nor Plagas, Vinnarette rushed to pack her bare essentials. "Masar Norgrem. The president's ordered an evacuation. We have to leave now." An aid advised her as she turned to leave, but not before she had a glimpse of the distorted image of the news reporter upon the monitor.

"And our prayers go out to the mates and sarlets of those brave pilots. Indeed, Great Mother, help us all."

Meanwhile, upon one of the many roadways that lead out of the city, Hunabloom's car was stuck in the traffic of evacuees as she listens to the news on the radio. "…Authorities have called for a complete evacuation of Nor Plagas shire. People are advised to avoid the expressway wherever possible."

"Oh yeah. Great. NOW he tells me." Hunabloom groaned in annoyance as Billis and Scooner were simply along for the ride.

Atop one of the many roofs of the skyrises, one would have expected the macabre celebrations of the Jolly Cluster's arrival would have died out days ago due to inactivity upon the starships. Instead it was just as much a party as it ever was when the trend started, if not greater as it seemed if the police helicopters and broadcasted warnings of evacuations had invigorated the participants.

"This is the Nor Plagas Law Enforcer Department. Please vacate the premises immediately. For your own safety." The collective response, which also included Reillae herself, was negative as they continued to boo the law enforcers.

Nolgit, still in traffic on the outskirts of Neau Grelsh, was on hold with his celluar phone. "Can we move it along?"

He honked the automobile's horn just as there was a reply. "Medicinesar Kutz's office."

"Greetings. Let me speak to Medicinesar Kutz please."

"I'm sorry. He's not available." The secretary answered.

"Listen, for three hundred a score, you can put me through to his house in the Clamptiers!"

Vinnarette then reached the helicopter upon the roof of the hotel, but paused as she noticed that there were still people on the rooftops and law enforcement helicopters that orbited above.

"Masar Norgrem!" The aid urged and it took all of Vinarette's willpower to get onto the helicopter. Soon enough, it was airborn.

At that moment, Reillae called out to the crowd. "They're moving!" The participants were awestruck as the Jolly Cluster started to rotate around their yaw axis. In fact much of the world was frozen in wonder as the starships had begun to do something ever since their arrival.

"We gotta get the naga out of here!" A presidential aid helped another as the rest of the staff scrambled to board the remaining helicopters as the starships rotated high above in orbit.

At Endras Aerospace Base, Delvis with his Lyssa in his arms and the rest of his entourage boarded Aerospace One. He turned towards the pilot of the jet liner. "Go ahead, pilot. We're ready to take off right now." As he approached his seat, he turned to a flight attendant. "Could you get a blanket for Lyssa?" She nodded as father and daughter took their seats upon the aircraft.

Once all were buckled up and ready for take-off, Melg opened his portable computator and spied the countdown on the monitor. It had reached zero and his face paled. "…Time's up."

The Jolly Cluster starships had completed their rotation and the coilgun batteries were ready for ortillery bombardment upon the planet below. A squadron of Jolly Cluster starships broke away from the main constellation and approached the League Spacestation in orbit for assault. All the necessary calculations and targeting solutions were prepared and the after effects of the impacts have been taken into consideration.

Then the order was given: Weapons Free.

On one of the slower streets of Neau Grelsh, Sarlet Rochen nearly dragged Wesslin's bike as he hopped off. "Slow down, Sarlet Rochen. You've been ridin' all morn. You gotta poo doo?"

Sarlet Rochen finally stopped before an electronics store's window that displayed numerous models of monitors. Wesslin then turned towards another wessari who stood there transfixed to the monitor. "What happened?" He was immediately shushed as the news report played and spoke about the incident that occurred in orbit.

However, Wesslin's grip upon Sarlet Rochen's leash was lessened enough for the braggit to rush head first into a collection of toy monsters. The street merchant of such wares, however, was less than pleased. Wesslin's attention then shifted to the commotion between his braggit and the street merchant. "Yo, kool!"

Wesslin then confronted the street merchant. "Don't be kickin' Sarlet Rochen. What the naga your problem?"

"That braggit's eatin' my Yorbilla. What's a little squatlet like you gonna do about it?"

"Get him, Rochen. Sic him." Wesslin then turned back to the street merchant. "If I wasn't no Voostial, I'd be throwin' your lard breennickle-eatin' buttock through the window."

However, the argument was settled when a coilgun slug impacted the nearby city block and carved out a massive crater that took out much of the pavement and underground infrastructure along with the collapse of several buildings from not only the impact alone, but also the explosive shockwaves that radiated from the impact site. Numerous automobile crashes also resulted as debris fell.

Around the block some distance away, and beyond the line of sight of the occupants, a taxi and his fare were now stuck in a traffic jam in a street that was already congested. "Why we not going?" A foreign national asked the taxi driver for his wife who were not among those who had decided to vacate the city due to the arrival of the Jolly Cluster.

"You know why?" The taxi driver then started to rant. 'Cause this is Neau Grelsh City. Anything could happen. Let's see. Could've been a remnant boom. Could've been a dad body. Somebody shot, stabbed, and it's Frierdae, paydae. Yid, somebody probably didn't get their paycheck." It was then did the foreign wife tapped the taxi driver on the shoulder. "Yes?"

"I want to go shopping."

"Me too!" The taxi driver then quipped. "But we ain't goin' nowhere 'cause this is a traffic clog."

Wesslin soon recovered from the nearby impact, behind him the street merchant shredded by the shards of the shattered window his body flew through and decorated the floor with his vissera and entrails along with a host of blood. He stood up and found that the leash lead into the new crater. "Sarlet Rochen!" He pulled on the leash as those around him that survived ran away in a panic from the devastation. "Hang on, Sarlet Rochen. I'm comin'!"

He then leaned over the edge to find Sarlet Rochen suspended with only the leash that saved him from an otherwise unpleasant sudden stop on the ground below. "Don't you worry about it. I'm gonna get you outta there!"

His attempt to pull up Sarlet Rochen via the leash had initially failed. "You okay, seriti? Don't worry about it. Hang in there." The braggit whined as Wesslin cried out. "Somebody dial 919!"

And then came the rest of the ortillery bombardment from the Jolly Cluster.

The taxi driver exclaimed as several more craters were carved into the street. Just then a terrible, "Oh, we at war!" But incorrect, thought crossed his mind as he yelled out. "Shrellin Kashiin is bomin' us!"

Entire city blocks were devastated, debris and even entire buildings collapsed upon the unfortunate masses within their shadow, aircraft were knocked out of the sky from the shockwaves of the impacts. Uncounted numbers of wessari were robbed of their families with outstretched arms of anguish, if they were not extinguished outright. Those that attempted to be selfless heroes, such as numerous law enforcers, were rewarded for their valor through their own gory demise.

Another was slaughtered when a helicopter crashed upon her and spilled her gray matter before her very children she attempted to save. Most such mothers, however, were only blessed with the fact that they would meet their children again in the afterlife as they embraced before their deaths. Even a lone taxi driver was not immune as he pushed his fare away from the collapsed ground and fell into the deadly abyss that was the impact crater.

Even military targets were not spared as facilities and base with anti-satellite capabilities and similar strategic abilities were equally obliterated beneath the hail of coilgun slug rounds. Communication hubs were similarly destroyed to remove any ability to effectively coordinate any retaliatory strike.

However, those were not the primary targets of the ortillery barage as coilgun slugs impacted the seafloor off the coast of these islands. The force of the displaced ocean water produced wave mega tsunami after mega tsunami that rushed away from the ortillery crater and towards the shoreline. Scores of victims, vehicles, and debris were swept inland by the might of the mega tsunami. Only the mightiest of buildings could stay anchored upon their foundations as the monstrous wave virtually swept aside civilization and forged ruins in their wake on their path inland.

Nolgit, still stuck in traffic, could do little but brace for the inevitable as the wave of water rushed towards him. "Oh, poo doo…"

The front of an automobile smashed into the windshield and his entrails erupted from his mouth before he was added to the wave of water and debris.

Lyssa climbed into Delvis' arms as Aerospace Force One took off ahead of the mega tsunami that rushed behind them. The aircraft shook as it attempted to gain altitude and outrun the literal wave of destruction that quickly closed the gap.

The aircraft was able to gain enough altitude and barely flew above the crest of the mega tsunami as it ascended into the sky that was now polluted with the lights of ortillery bombardment. Below, was only death, destruction, and devastation.

"…Great Mother… It's destroying everything in its path. Widening-" Hunabloom's car radio then went silent.

She then noticed that countless people have abandoned their cars and fled from something. Only did she look upon the rearview mirror did she see the cause of such panic: a massive wall of water and debris of those unfortunate enough to be caught in its path.

"Great Mother! Come on Billis. We gotta go." She opens Billis' door and pulled away luggage to get to her child. "Come on, Scooner." She ordered as she took Billis to her arms and ran away from the approach of the mega tsunami wave as her son yelled.

As she ran deeper into the traffic tunnel, vehicles were pushed into the entrance and she knew that she would not outrun the wave. It was then she spotted a maintenance alcove and ultimately smashed open the door. She called out to Scooner and the loyal braggit leapt into the alcove. Hunabloom shielded both Billis and Scooner with her body just as the wall of water and debris jammed themselves into the doorway.

A few hours later, the full ortillery bombardment has cased. The report on the operation read as thus:

 **ALL INITIAL STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES ACHIEVED**

 **PHASE TWO IS A GO**

* * *

And that's basically what happens when you go unrestricted bombardment in Stellaris. Yeah, I know it didn't happen in the original let's play, but creative license and the actual planetary landings actually happen months ahead of the attack on the Wessari space station so I had to up the tension a little bit.

That and to make both the whole Independence Day and Armageddon angle make some kind of sense. I did recall watching some documentary about how actual aliens would attack the planet and make it a global attack. One feature was to drop kinetic rods at the continental shelves and produce mega tsunamis to wipe out a good chunk of the population, hence the title of this chapter here.

Either way, it's a good setup for the following events of the next chapter. Which I'm hoping would be a bit more rapid than a single chapter a week, but one can dream right? And while we're on the subject, this has got to me my largest chapter to date. And here I thought it was going to be an even shorter one than the last, hence all the extra scenes. I might just end up merging my two planned final chapters into one after all. Or not, not too sure what else I can stuff in between those two...

So until then, flames and brutally honest reviews are pretty much overcompensation now. The shlock should be obvious by now and I'm self-aware enough to know that shlock isn't always a good thing nor a good sign of a competent writer. So no need to apply there, I got it covered.


	4. Conquista Stellaris

**Conquest of the Wessari**

Apologies for such the wait for this next chapter. Granted, I didn't really plan on a weekly release on chapters for this odd brainfart story idea, but it would have been nice if it was consistent. But after falling into the trap that is Bethesda quest, in particular Skyrim, I got pretty side tracked. Then again, I could have used a break and since Marc and Larissa are going to that convention in Vancouver and we won't expect another Stellaris Invicta stream for the next, what two weeks or so? Anywho, I'd figured that I'd use the opportunity to at least finish this chapter.

Or at least, that was the idea. But then life got in the way and, well, this didn't make it in time. Well at least I tried, right? Though to be honest, it might not be my best work. Though then again, what work of this was?

And speaking of bad work, the usual legalities.

 **Disclaimer** **:** The basic intellectual properties that inspired this story are not own by the author. Stellaris is owned by Johan Andersson and Paradox Interactive, while the setting of Stellaris Invicta is inspired by the let's play webseries of the same name by the Templin Institute YouTube channel. Independence Day is owned by 20th Century Fox, Rolland Emmerich and Dean Delvin. Battle: Los Angeles is owned by Colombia Pictures, Jonathan Liebesman, Jeffrey Chernov, David Greenblatt, and Christopher is owned by Buena Vista Pictures, Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer, Gale Anne Hurd, Johnathan Hensleigh, and J.J. Abrams. Please support the respective official release of each property however possible.

 **Conquista Stellaris**

The devastation wrought forth by the Jolly Cluster above was swift and near total. Few islands and archipelagos were left unscathed from both the ortillery bombardment and the mega tsunamis, and yet there were oasis of calm and relative peace. It was unknown at the time, but this was intentional, all by design. Plans had been drafted and enacted, but as to the content of these plans the Wessari that were enlightened to such truths could only speculate.

As the Seelse Caravan traveled down the road with the biplane in tow, narrowly missed their own chance of misfortune due to the artificially inducted turbak-quakes, Ulell and Coyall listened to the radio as to the update of the Jolly Cluster above and all those flashes near the horizon and unexpected geophysical activity they had experienced. Ulell adjusts the radio so that they can get a clear signal. "-Reports are unclear as to the extent of the devastation, but from all accounts Nor Plagas, Gordarel and Neau Grelsh have been left in ruins."

Coyall held an astonished look upon his face. "Great Mother!" Ulell then turned to Coyall. "I've been sayin' it! I've been sayin' it for ten condemned cours! Ain't I been sayin' it Ulell? Huh, I've been sayin' it!"

With unsteady legs on an already unsteady surface, Broi approached both Coyall and Ulell. "Mon, I'm sick. I don't feel so good. Park it over, sar."

The Seelse Caravan pulls over and before it even made a full stop, Broi dashed out the door and towards the bushes alongside the road and violently emptied the contents of his stomach. Ulell then caught up to him. "You're gonna be alrigh Broi?" He asked in deep concern as Broi had finished a second expulsion.

"Yeah, leave me alone sar, I got it." Broi reassured his elder brother before a third expulsion erupted.

Coyall then looked up from the scene before him and saw something at a distance. He then called out to Ulell. "Ulell?"

Ulell then lifted his head and looked at what Coyall had noticed. They could see the faint silouettes and lights of numerous other caravans like their own, effectively a city of refugees. "Look at all that." He motioned towards the sight.

Onboard Aerospace Force One, Delvis spied Lyssa asleep with a blanket over her form. He was in deep thought when Loralla approached and sat next to him. In a hushed, forlorn tone Delvis spoke "We could have evacuated the cities scores ago." He paused as thoughts of what-ifs plagued his mind. "That's the advantage of being a combat navigator. In the Lentil Sea Incursion we knew what we had to do. It's not that simple anymore. A lot of people died today. How many didn't have to?"

It was then did General Nerus enter the area. Delvis turned to him and asked "Any report on my mate yet?"

With a heavy heart, General Nerus answered. "The roto-lift never made it to Hullist. No wireless contact." Delvis internally feared the worst.

In the darkness that was the waterlogged and debris-filled traffic tunnel, Hunnabloom attempted to push away the twisted wreckage that blocked the entrance to the maintenance alcove. She was unable to push anything more than enough space for a few scant rays of light before she had surrendered that path of escape. With the light of her smart phone, which had no cellular reception whatsoever and thus unable to call for aid, she illuminated the space that was revealed to be a maintenance garage.

She spied an old landline telephone and rushed to it, only to find that the dial tone was dead. Another avenue was closed to her. Even the garage doors were just another obstacle that she could not physically move. It was then did she spy a large highway maintenance truck, one that was equipped with a heavy land mover shovel attached to the front. A smile crept onto her face when she turned to her child "Serleti, stay right here." She ordered. "Stay right here with Scooner."

She found that the cab was unlocked. With the hope that luck will strike her a second time, she searched for the vehicle's keys. "Keys. Come on, keys." She then flipped down a sun visor to which a pair of keys fell and she barely caught them. "Yes!" She then inserted the truck keys into the ignition port and turned them in order to jump-start the engine.

"Come on, serleti. Come on. Come on. Come on." Hunabloom prayed that she would be lucky a third time; she had no idea how to hot-wire a car and she would never hear the end of it from both Reillae and Teeve if they ever found out. That is, if she could ever find them again.

The engine then turned and roared to life. She exclaimed in pure joy as she exited the vehicle and ushered both Billis and Scooner into the cab. A moment later, the truck burst through the garage doors but was immediately stopped as Hunabloom applied the brakes.

Before them was total devastation and unfathomable carnage. The few, bare skeletal frameworks of buildings were visible and one of the few indications that this flood water wasteland was once a city. Few tropical trees stood as the exposed ground was littered with twisted wrecks and mangled corpses and exposed entrails, the deeper pools of flood water could only hide much more such horror. Though they were no longer trapped within the garage, traversing the now ruined terrain would only make it more difficult to get out of Nor Plagas, let alone reach Yu Zeglo.

Billis turned towards his shocked mother. "What happened konna?"

All Hunabloom could do was shake her head. "I don't know, serleti…"

Within the heavily damaged BNAS Expeditionary Control of the equally battered Aerospace Center Gullist, wrecked by the seismic turbak-quakes of the ortillery bombardment from the Jolly Cluster above, the survivors rose from the remains.

"A-Anyone alive?" Director Velosar called out. "I need a head count." Numerous voices called out to indicate that there were survivors, with a few of such numbers that called out other survivors that were incapacitated and would require medical treatment.

"I-I need to get in contact with His Excellency." General Ulinsae barely spoke out as he searched for any working communications device.

"Let's make sure we can even get a connection," Director Velosar advised. "Let alone make a call out." He then turned his attention towards a BNAS technician who was in the middle of a systems check.

"Through Skynet!" General Ulinsae exclaimed. "We can't trust the wireless from the satellites."

"Wouldn't want to get blasted to naga anyway." The BNAS technician spoke in a witty comeback as she continued to check external communications. Soon enough, the answer was unveiled.

"So?" Director Velosar inquired.

"So far we have clear enough lines for the Currano Space Agency, but we have heavy static with Kubacosmos and barely have audio. Some of the Skynet stratosats must have been knocked off course due to the shockwave. As for the Xling National Aerospace Bureau, we got nothing. No static, no audio, nothing."

"Then they must have been destroyed." General Ulinsae concluded. "They were effectively a branch of the Republican Liberation Army after all."

"Not to mention that their headquarters was pretty close to the shoreline if I recall correctly." Director Velosar added. "The Jolly Cluster sure did a number on our planet, wouldn't be surprised if some of those impacts hit the water."

"Can we contact Aerospace Force One?" General Ulinsae turned towards the BNAS technician.

"I can do one better: They're trying to contact us."

Upon Aerospace Force One, Melg opened an air sickness bag and groaned. Hullish turned towards his adult offspring. "It's Aerospace Force One, for crying out loud. Still he gets airsick."

"Sel. I don't feel so good." Melg noted with a flushed look upon his face.

Hullish then pats his stomach. "Look at me, huh? Like a rock. Could be bad weather, could be good weather. It doesn't matter." He then used his arms to demonstrate further. "We could go up, we could go down."

"Mon, please, don't talk."

Mindlessly, Hullish continued. "We could go back, we could go forward. We can go side to side and-"

It was at that moment, with a lurch in his mouth, did Melg rush out of his seat and scrambled to the nearest lavatory. "What'd I say?"

Loralla then took over Melg's seat as she turned to Hullish and asked. "He still gets airsick, huh?"

"Yeah." Hullish nodded in confirmation.

"Hullish, in all of this, I, uh… didn't get the chance to thank you two."

"Think nothing of it, Spulky."

With a smile, Loralla corrected Hullish. "It's 'Spenky'."

"All he could think about was getting to you." He then pointed towards Loralla. "There's still love there, I think. Hmm?"

Loralla smiled to herself, a sad smile though. "Love was never our problem."

"'All you need is love'" Hullish quoted. "Gosh Yellin. Smart Sar. Shot in the back. Very sad."

In another part of Aerospace Force One, Delvis, General Neerus and Qanmata were in a video conference with Secretary General Bretangu Yuliprae of the Greater League of Nations via Skynet. "It's great to know that you're still among the living, Secretary General." Delvis spoke.

"My Stratagos didn't fare as well." Secretary General Yuliprae responded. "She didn't move onto the Hegemon fast enough to escape Grunkle when it was hit by the Jolly Cluster's bombardment."

"Well at least the Hegemon's able to survive." General Neerus noted in reference to one of the few sub-orbital combat aerospacecraft constructed by the Greater League of Nations, the aerial equivalent to a carrier and battleship.

"But not fully stocked." Secretary General Yuliprae shook his head. "She won't be fighting any battles in the immediate future. Would be a waste of resources anyway, best use her as a mobile headquarters for the Greater League of Nations and what's left of the Hegemon Assembly."

"Do we have the wereabouts of other world leaders?" Delvis inquired.

"The Currano Executive Council evacuated as well as Premier Xeong Yulqin of the Socialist Republic of Xling. His Excellency Drel Volgotha, however, is still holed down in that bunker-fortress of his in Kubari." Secretary General Yuliprae then sighed. "And that's all we know of for sure. Everyone else is either missing or certainly expired from the bombardment."

"Your Excellency," Qanmata turned towards Delvis. "I've just gotten word from SOUAD, the Vice President and the Cabinet had arrived safely."

"Then that makes you Strategos by default, Norgrem." Yuliprae interrupted.

"Excuse me?" Delvis inquired.

"These are extraordinary times we live in, Your Excellency." Yuliprae elaborated. "The National Guards of nearly all the nations are unable to independently act globally to fight this war we found ourselves in. The Republican Liberation Army is effectively decapitated and too preoccupied with relief efforts and the Kubari have their hands full to pry out their own president from his fortress-bunker. Arenni is the only nation to have a fully functional chain of command to coordinate the Global Peacekeepers AND the National Guards. The Hegemon should have been, but she was launched prematurely to even fit the role."

"Th-that's a lot to ask for, Secretary General." Delvis replied.

"And that's WITH what we have left." General Neerus added.

"We work with what we have, not what we need." Yuliprae noted. "And the first thing we need to do arrange a counter attack. Relief Efforts are already underway but there's only so much we can do on that front."

"What do we have for anti-orbital weaponry?" Delvis turned to Qanmata.

"Barely enough to scare them away, at best." Qanmata answered. "What anti-orbital weaponry we could hide away is few and far in between. Everything else was taken out by the bombardment-"

"Or IOBMs." General Neerus added in interruption.

"And the Jolly Cluster's orbit is too low for that to be effective?"

Qanmata shook his head. "Not everything is hardened for EMPs and there isn't enough spare motherboards and computator chips to prevent a new stone age even if we win. If they were closer to the ground, the impact would be localized instead."

"Wasn't there something from the twenty-nine forties about some manhole cover?" Delvis inquired further, in reference to a thermonuclear bomb test that involved burying a warhead in a column of water underground capped off by a steel plate.

General Neerus shook his head. "It isn't a bad idea, but the construction would take too much time and I doubt the Jolly Cluster would allow us to dig that many holes without creating a few craters of their own in retaliation."

"Thankfully, Premier Yulqin just fessed up." Yuliprae interrupted. "Before the Greater League of Nations, Xling had stockpiled a massive number of non-nuclear anti-orbital weaponry. When the Jolly Cluster had first entered orbit, he ordered the deployment of these weapons."

"And why didn't he use them before?" General Neerus inquired with suspicion in his voice.

"They were ancient and they weren't fast enough. Most of them were destroyed in transit but enough of them survived for at least one good global counterattack." Yuliprae answered. "Since the bombardment, Xling lacked in manpower and aircraft to perform such a campaign. But with the Aerospace Forces of the National Guards, it would be possible."

"So when's the first shipment?" Delvis asked.

"They're on the runway in Xling as we speak." Delvis, General Neerus, and Qanmata were wide eyed. "It's how I got Premier Yulqin to eventually confess really."

At Zeolquan Isle, two heavy aerospace lifters had just achieved lift off and had begun to climb into the air to perform their strategic deliveries to allied nations. With these anti-satellite weapons, the Greater League of Nations just might have a chance at a counterattack.

However, far above the airfield, a Jolly Cluster starship readied its coil gun with a special round before it was launched and rocketed towards the surface of New Turbak. Unlike the earlier bombardment, the kinetic round began to fragment and then shatter within the atmosphere, which was by design. The cone of orbital velocity fragments struck the aerospace lifters not unlike a shotgun blast.

Once the news reached Delvis, he could only gasp. "I think they just made it clear that they now rule the aerospace."

"Perfect! Now how are going to get those weapons?!" Qanmata exclaimed in frustration.

"Simple; we ship them." General Neerus answered.

"And how would that be any better?" Qanmata legitimately asked. "How would a cargo ship be any different than a lifter?"

"You're talking about submarines?" Delvis added, to which General Neerus nodded.

"We don't have enough cargo submersibles to deliver those weapons to the globe fast enough." Qanmata noted.

"Then pray to Great Mother that we have the time to do so." Yuliprae added.

Slowly but surely, the Xling non-nuclear anti-satellite weaponry was deployed across all of New Turbak to surviving aerospace forces. And from the first deliveries, it was apparent just how incompatible they were to modern launch platforms. The fact alone further delayed the counterattack just so that the necessary logistics could be done to make them compatible enough. Even then, with only a quarter of the weapons deployed forthnights later another development had occurred in orbit.

The Jolly Cluster had an army.

* * *

Within the briefing room of the Yu Zeglo Naval Infantry Aviator Aerospace Station, Captain Velkins began to detail the battleplan to the assembled thirty-five combat aviators. "You sars will be the first wave in our counterattack. Our target is projected to make landfall south of what remains of Nor Plagas. Our Black Sentinel squadron-"

Both Captains Kureller and Squaldre sat next to each other as they listened to the briefing. Or at the very least, Kureller attempted to pay attention.

Squaldre on the other hand, whispered "You scared sar?"

"No." Kureller whispered back. "You?"

"No." Squaldre answered. But then a moment later, he laid his head upon Kureller's lap. "Hold me!"

A few combat aviators chuckled to themselves as Kureller scolded Squaldre. "Oi, oi, oi pay attention!"

From the commotion, and the realization that neither captains listened to him, Captain Velkins turned to the duo. "Something you want to add to this briefing, Captain Kureller?"

With a snap, Kureller responded. "No ser. Just anxious to get up there and whip EO's buttocks, that's all." The other aviators then laughed out loud from the answer.

"You'll get your chance. You'll all get your chance." Captain Velkins responded. "Good hunting. Dismissed!"

"Let's kick the tires and light the fires big monna." Squaldre joked as the combat aviators dispersed from the briefing room. Soon enough all NI aviators were on the tarmac. "Let's bring it home. Let's bring that bad sel home cap!" He then turned towards Kureller. "You lose?"

"Yes ser." Kureller answered. "You got your victory dance?"

With the cigar displayed, Squaldre answered in singsong "Well I got it right heeeere! Yeah!"

When Kureller spied that Squaldre had the cigar in his mouth, he chastised him. "Oi, oi, don't get premature on me soldier. We don't light up until the husky busari sings."

"I'm all ears, kin-sel." They both tapped their flight helmets together before they separated and mounted their respective fighter planes. As Squaldre climbed up the ladder, he turned towards Kureller's plane and called out "You the sar!"

One by one, the Combat Aviators of the Naval Infantry lifted off and climbed into the air.

Onboard Aerospace Force One, within the command center Delvis along with General Neerus, Qanmata and various radio technicians coordinate the worldwide counterattack against the Jolly Cluster's dropships. Delvis then noted "Right, gentlesars, we're on."

A radio technician turned to General Neerus. "General, it's SOUAD."

General Neerus takes the receiver and answered as Delvis turned to Qanmata. "Far?"

"All satellites, wireless, and ground communications with the cities are down despite the relief efforts and evacuations. We're looking at a total loss."

Delvis is then reminded of the Jolly Cluster's bombardment forthniths ago from the statement. It was happening again as he turned towards the monitors. "How about our sels? Where are they?"

General Neerus answered. "ETA four moments."

En route to the alien lander, above the remains of Nor Plagas, Kureller could not help but think of what could have been. "I shouldn't have left her."

With uncanny empathy, Squaldre spoke. "Don't worry about it, big sar. I'm sure she got out of here before it happened. Or," He then spoke in an accent "As the good shaman would say 'Why we are on this particular mission, we'll never know.'" The other aviators shook their heads with a smile as Squaldre continued. "'But I do know, that, here today, that the Black Sentinels will emerge victorious, once again.'"

"Hallowed, sar." A pilot answered.

"Hallowed, shaman." Krueller added as well. The clouds parted for the squadron to reveal the alien lander of the Jolly Cluster. A dropship more massive than any lifter any wessari had ever encountered, so massive to the point that the rational mind would question how it could even fly in the first place.

"Blessed Great Mother…" Squaldre gasped at the sheer scale of it.

"Lock and load." Krueller ordered and the other aviators readied their airmasks for combat and activated their targeting computators.

"Affirmative. Nor Plagas attack squadron has AMRAAMs locked on target." A radio technician reported to General Neerus.

"Gordarel and Neau Grelsh report sensor lock as well." A second radio technician reported.

General Neerus then ordered. "Fire at will." The technicians soon relayed the order.

Above Nor Plagas, the Black Sentinels fired their missiles at the dropship. Vapor trials lanced towards their targets. So far there were no point defenses, perhaps they will make it and do some damage to the alien starlift vehicle.

Only for the impacts of the warheads to shimmer into existence a strange force wall projected over the surface of the dropship.

"Are they not getting through?" Qanmata inquired in surprise.

"No, ser." A radio operator answered. "Not one."

"Command, Sentinel One." Kureller reported. "Command, Sentinel One. Switching to dustvipers. Moving in." A flight broke off from the Black Sentinel and fired their infrared missiles at the dropships, however the results were the same. "They must have some kind of protective shield over their hull. Sentinells, pull up, pull up!"

The flight attempted to avoid a direct impact upon the hull, though one craft was unable to turn fast enough. "Sentinel three, pull up!"

"Controls are showing complete failure in the stabs." The combat aviator reported.

"Pull up!" But it was too late as the fighter jet was obliterated by the impact of the dropship's deflectors.

Just then, a door upon the dropship opened and alien fightercraft, each one much larger than those of the Black Sentinels, was gorged out not unlike a swarm of angry bees from a hive. "Blow through. Blow through!" Kureller ordered.

"There's too many of them!" A combat aviator reported as he was the unlucky one that had an alien fighter crash into him. It was a victory that was doomed to never be repeated as the alien fighter swarmed soon overtook the attack squadron.

Kureller found an alien fighter upon his own tail and dodged Auto-LLG rounds. Squaldre then came to Kureller's rescue. "I got ya covered, big monna!" A missile was fired, but the force wall-like point defenses of the alien fighter negated the attack and rolled away. "Condemned! They got shields too!"

"Let's go, sentinels! Move, sentinels, move!" Kureller ordered as the counterattack soon degraded into a desperate fight against their slaughter. It was a losing fight.

"They got another one, ser." A radio technician reported to Delvis. "Two more just went down, they're dropping like gilms. We're losing them."

"Alright, get them out of there." And almost immediately the radio technicians sent off abort orders, but it may have been too late as more and more combat aviators died from alien fighter rounds.

"All right, I think we're gonna have to make a run for this one." Kureller spoke to Squaldre as his fighter went towards the ruins and near the ground. Let's get low, let's get fast!"

"I've got ya big monna." Squaldre followed suit, but so did two alien fighters as they raced out of Nor Plagas. It was then did the dropship began to deploy the first wave of tactical transports loaded to the brim with combat armor and infantry.

* * *

From Yolumo Air Station, numerous heavy lift helicopters transported Naval Infantry to the new frontlines as alien tactical transports have done the same. Second Lieutenant Ketarmetz' first tilation was among the second wave of reinforcements and only just concluded a relief effort watch only hours ago. They were originally going to relieve the previous watch when the dropships arrived.

Private Utteersar held a puzzled look when another Naval Infantryman placed one of his own identification tags within the laces of his boots. Naval EMT Ashugamanki saw the look upon the other's face and elaborated. "It's in case his head gets blown off so they can identify his body."

He clearly did not like that answer.

Some NI read passages of sacred texts if only to prepare their souls for the inevitable. It was then did Spear Corporal Hollambro call out to Staff Sergeant Granz over the noise of the helicopter. "Oi, Staff Sergeant!" He turned towards Hollambro. "Promise me that you won't let me be taken alive by Great Mother condemned predator from another world, Staff Sergeant?"

Granz knew that he only asked that to relieve the stress of going into actual combat, to downplay the fear of mortality and the bullet. However, this was neither the time nor the place for such jokes. He had seen it before and it cost lives, and he knew that he couldn't save everyone deep inside; no matter how much he denies it. "No promises in combat. Now stop screwing around and keep your head in it."

Lieutenant Ketarmetz then began to write a letter to his wife, if only for the possibility that he may not come back alive. This was not just his first combat mission; this was everyone's first fight against creatures from another solar system.

The helicopters hugged the coastline of Nor Plagas as artillery rained down from above, cover from any possible anti-air weapons the dropships might have brought with them. The reality of the mission, the defensive campaign became clear once first tilation saw through the windows and the hatch the utter devastation wrought not only by the orbital bombardment, they have seen those before, but by the fresh battle of the Jolly Cluster's newly arrived army. There were bodies of civilians, wrecks of salvaged vehicles, and the scars of the initial incursion.

The helicopters then flew over the battlefield proper as Granz looked out the window and saw friendly armor and infantry, Global Peacekeeper and National Guard alike, battlehostile alien forces. It looked vicious enough to be desperate for their own side as the helicopters descended upon the forward operating base; Cesta Lomcatta Airport deep in the heart of Nor Plagas. It was once the headquarters of the relief effort, but now it was the bulwark against the alien advance.

First tilation then disembarked the helicopter and double timed towards the nearby hangars as Aerospace Force air cover fought against the air superiority of the alien fighters while off to the distance, the failed counterattack of the dropship raged on. Lieutenant Ketarmetz and Staff Sergeant Granz along with other tilation leaders then approached the commanding officer of the FOB: Naval Infantry Colonel Brills Korband.

"Situation is as follows: Most of Cesta Lomcatta's been cleared of civilians." Colonel Korband briefed. "We've got a defensive line on Lamkah Throughfare a league from the ocean. Aerospace Force has attackers and bombers on deck so at 1930 hours, they will pound the entire area from Lamkah to the ocean."

With a shocked face, Lieutenant Ketarmetz asked. "We're leveling Cesta Lomcatta?"

"We've got an infestation of Great Mother knows what, but they are NOT of New Turbak and we gotta hit them with everything we got and we got to hit them hard!" Colonel Korband explained. "Currently their air cover is largely preoccupied with the counterattack near their own FOB and is effectively a ground force enemy only. The Aerospace Force will tear them open a new buttocks sphincter and we WILL rule the air!"

"You said most civilians, ser?" Granz asked.

"That's affirmative." Colonel Korband answered. "We're getting distress signals, sending squads out." He then begins to assign search sectors for each tilation. "Gelf, you have Cesta Lomcatta to Torlyntic. Fuptic, Tolyntic to Paco. Elto, Paco to Marinavista."

He then turned to Lieutenant Ketarmetz. "I want you to break off a squad and a machine gun team. Proceed west from Lamkah to a law enforcer station here: Vammas and Dankarosa."

"Vammas and Dankarosa." Granz repeated, to keep the address in mind for their deployment.

"Law enforcers were overrunned. Got a distress call that civilians are still there. We don't know how many. Just gather survivors and call in. We'll send transport to evacuate you out; roto-lifts if we can, haulers if we must." He then turned to the rest of the assembled tilations. "Be advised, you got three scores to get out before our bombs drop and make no mistake: they WILL drop, with or without you. So you get those civilians and you get the naga out of there and you kill anything that isn't wessari." He then noticed that the tilation leaders had not dispersed to their assignments yet. "Let's go! Let's get it done!"

Colonel Korband then turned to an NI Captain. "Captain, this is not a drill. You hold that line, do you understand me?"

"Yes, ser."

Soon enough, second tilation reached the Lamkah defense line to begin their mission. It was complete pandemonium. What was once a relief station was now a makeshift defense base as civilian refugees rushed away from the battlefield in confused droves. Mortars and artillery fire darted through the air and struck unseen foes as the fog of battle thickened more and more, visibility had soured if only to hide the full horror of war. Roto-gunships fired round after round against the alien enemy, but it all seemed as if they were against a tsunami.

"What's left of the Hedgemon Assembly has called an emergency session in an attempt to establish a means to share and coordinate resources, but with the Global Peacekeepers spread so thin and so many Jolly Cluster incursions all across the globe with a count of forty-two and rising-" A reporter explained to the rare viewers who were not affected by the invasion across all of New Turbak.

A father with his young daughter in his arms approached Granz in frantic panic. "Is it this way? Where are we supposed to go?" He ultimately followed the mad mob as the naval infantry marched towards the chaotic symphony of war, weaved through abandoned cars and scared civilians as explosions rumbled in the near distance.

Second tilation then reached a suburban neighborhood that was eerily quiet, unnervingly quiet, disturbed only by the rare screech and burst of weapons fire. "Sars, anything beyond this point consider to be hostile." Lieutenant Ketarmetz ordered. They creeped down the alleyway, unsure of if the next turn, the next corner would be an encounter with the enemy.

"Naga of a way to earn your citizenship, right?" Corporal Buutgles noted to Ashugamanki.

"Poo doo, I'd rather suck rocks in Olfgoliad." The Naval EMT countered.

"How many civilians you think we gotta get out of that police station?" Corporal Higgwen asked.

"I have no idea, Higgwen," Corporal Elavi answered. "Just stay focused."

Out of the alleyway, second tilation reached a street that was populated with mutilated corpses and scrapped vehicles; signs that the alien infantry had been here before. A few of the automobiles have their radios left on as the news played out loud as proof that the attack was sudden. The smoke from the bombardment and explosions has made visuals poor and the naval infantry nervous and anxious. How close were the alien infantry?

Then something approached them from ahead. Weapons were drawn and each NI was ready to send rounds down range to whatever alien terror would come forth. Fingers twitched upon triggers in adrenaline fueled nervousness and ready for any tactical surprise.

Instead, it was an abandoned braggit. "It's just a braggit." Spear Corporal Tolls reported as the animal approached Corporal Varnap.

"Ah, it's just a braggy." The news reached down the NI grapevine as Varnap read the nametag. "What's his name, huh? Blenn?! Are you kidding me?" He then turned towards Lieutenant Ketarmetz. "Who's the idiot naming braggits these days, Lieutenant?"

"What do you want to call him? Brido?" Tolls asked Varnap. And it was at that exact moment did chaos erupt as alien fire exploded around the tilation. Rocket fire had taken out three naval infantry in the opening volley with the lethal promise of more casualties. Burst fire came from all around them.

"Where's it coming from?!"

"I don't know!"

The tilation was unsure of where the fire originated, and thus could not fire back and were helpless as they were unsure of if the cover that the individually found was effective enough. Then one spotted the alien infantry on the roof.

They were massive, at least a head taller than the average wessari and just as bulky, heavily armored and armed to boot if their massive weapons were any indication. They were built to invade world alien to their own.

"We gotta move, now!" Lieutenant Ketarmetz ordered.

"Varnap!" Granz called out. "Get me an exit down that alley!" He did so and the surviving tilation fell back to the new position.

Only to find that the alley had no exit. "We're boxed in!"

With ammunition drying up, the number of wounded rising, and Lieutenant Ketarmetz frozen, Granz did the only logical thing he could perform as he body slammed open a nearby gate. "We have an exit! Everybody move out!" Lieutenant Ketarmetz finally ordered and the survivors rushed through the new opening and out of the killzone. They weaved through abandoned house through abandoned house until they found a location where they can finally regroup and recover.

They had met the enemy and it was a disaster; an ill omen of future battles to come.

It was then did Corporal Buutgles notice something. "Oi, Oi! Sals, sals! Where's Utteersar? I didn't see him come with us, where the naga is he?"

Granz then pulled Corporals Higgwen and Elavi along with Buutgles to search for their missing private.

Private Utteersar, meanwhile, found himself alone in the laundry room of an apartment complex. He had just experienced his first combat encounter and he did not take it well as it made him jump at every noise and movement, unsure of if that was the alien infantry or not.

Thankfully he was able to establish radio contact with Granz. "Where are you?"

"Staff Sergeant? Oh, thank Great Mother! I had to turn my wireless off, these things are everywhere!" Utteersar reported frantically.

"We're coming for you. What's your location?"

"I-I'm in the laundry room of some apartment complex. I-It's like three stories-" He then saw the shadowed silhouette of the alien infantry on the wall, it was just outside the room.

"What color? Uttersar? Uttersar!"

Too frightened to even answer, Uttersar left the laundry room with his sight ever down the barrel of his weapon as his body shivered from fright. He tracked the sound of a bird, he internally wondered if the bird was a clue that the creature was in that direction. He then had a gut feeling.

He rapidly did an about face and emptied almost his entire mag into the center mass of the alien infantry that had emerged from the pool behind him. Disoriented, the creature fell back into the pool.

Uttersar nervously approached the pool, unsure of if the thing was dead or not. With paranoid frazzled logic, he fired wildly into the pool water to be sure.

"Uttersar!" He turned and aimed his weapon towards the voices, but quickly he realized it was not those things.

"Uttersar, lower that weapon!" Granz ordered. He did so as Granz spoke again. "The naga were you-"

The alien infantryman emerged from the pool and found itself once again the main attraction of every NI bullet fired in its direction. It soon fell back down into the pool but the fire continued a few moments longer before the courtyard was silenced once again.

"What the naga was that thing?!" Granz exclaimed in a near curse.

"They don't die." Uttersar nearly squealed in horror. "I hit it a hundred times, they don't die."

"If you get separated from the unit again," Granz warned. "I'll find you and shoot you myself." They soon left, but not before Granz ordered Buutgles to drop a grenade to make sure that the creature stayed down.

Soon enough, they rejoined the rest of the tilation. "It's Uttersar!" Tolls exclaimed.

Hollambro, wounded and blinded from the firefight earlier, then turned to Varnap and whispered. "Oi, Varnap! You owe me five; unmated wasn't going to die until the sel gets some!"

Though before they could get any closer to the law enforcer station, they were fired upon yet again and they were forced to fall back to an abandoned restaurant and manned posts to ensure that they could not be fired upon again.

From the smoke appeared friendly units, as equally lost as they were unsure as to where the enemy hid. With comrades in arms in need, they waved them over to their fortified cover.

"Where are you from?" Granz asked.

"Fortieth ID." The soldier answered. From their number, there should have been more.

"Where's the rest of your unit?" Lieutenant Ketarmetz asked.

"Everyone else is either dead or missing." He then turned towards the woman beside him. "I picked up Aerospace Force here."

"Tech Sergeant Kolennia Grantas. IS Aerospace Force, Sixty-First Wing, Intel Surveillance Recon division."

"Tech Sergeant, what the naga are you doing here?" Lieutenant Ketarmetz asked.

"We were tracking enemy transmissions about twelve stats south from here. They ambushed us, like they knew our fraken address. I'm the only one left." She turned towards the other soldiers. "I found these guys on the way to the safe zone at Cesta Lomcatta airport."

"You're ready to use that weapon, Tech Sergeant?" Granz asked.

"With all due respect Staff Sergeant," Tech Sergeant Grantas answered "I didn't get this far off my good looks. I'm ready for payback."

"Outstanding."

"Lieutenant," One of the NI spoke out from the radio. "Ride inboud twenty-five moments, ser."

"Affirmative." Lieutenant Ketarmetz then ordered. "Let's get to that police station."

With the extra help, the tilation finally reached the law enforcer station. Granz took a few NI to clear the station while the rest stayed with the wounded for the exfil vehicle and to deploy a smoke grenade when the time came.

They called out their affiliation to ensure that they were not attacked themselves by either frightened civilians or law enforcers. There was no answer as they continued to delve deeper into the abandoned law enforcer station. All they found were either empty rooms or the bodies of the dead.

"UINI! UINI!" They called out as they turned the corner of a cubicle to find the civilian survivors: A father and son and a woman with two young girls. "How many of you?" Granz asked.

"Five of us, three kids." The woman answered. With the survivor count confirmed, they left to meet up with the evac vehicle.

They rushed out only to find the helicopter, loaded with their wounded, lifted off into the air. Granz called out. "Sarlets! We got Sarlets!"

Only for the helicopter to be shout out of the sky by alien fighters.

* * *

Onboard Aerospace Force One, the radio technicians furiously and desperately attempted to connect with the squadron leaders to abort the counter attack. However planes fell faster than orders were received. Delvis then exclaimed "Get them out of there!"

It was then did the image on the monitor blink out of existence. "What happened to the monitor." The second radio technician inquired. "Where's the picture."

"We've lost the satellite." The first radio technician answered.

Both Squaldre and Kureller pushed their fighters to their absolute limits in their attempts to outrun the alien fighters. And yet the alien fighters continued to gain on them. It was only a matter of time.

And then an idea occurred to Squaldre. "Check me out, Teevie. I'm gonna try something."

"Sar, don't do nothing stupid over there." Kureller warned.

"You know me."

"That's what I'm talking about!" Squaldre then started to not only accelerate, but also bank. "Drilly! Drilly! What are you doing? You can't bank at that speed!"

The alien fighter closes in and fires bursts. "Drilly, he's closing on you!"

Squaldre found that he had trouble breathing so he took off his airmask. "Put your mask back on! That's an order aviator!"

"I can't breath!"

Kureller called out Squaldre's name as the alien fighter closed in, each burst inched closer and closer to Squaldre's plane until finally the shot's connect and the aeroframe was ripped apart. The alien fighter then looped around and turned back to the dropship as its partner continued the chase. "Drilly, no!"

Back upon Yu Zeglo, Captain Velkins awaited news of the returning squadron. "That's affirmative. We have incoming." A radio technician reported.

"Let me have it, sel." Captain Velkins ordered.

The radio operator then stood up. "You got it."

Velkins then looked at the radar screen as he took the radio technician's station. "Friendly?" He asked the sergeant, but only got silence in response. "Sergeant?"

"I don't think so!" The Sergeant answered. When Velkins turned to look out the window, the entire sky was littered with alien fighters that strafed the airfield. However they were not alone as tactical transports landed and unloaded their cargo of heavy armor and mechanized infantry which swarmed the tarmac and filled the air with LLG rounds. There was not enough time for the aircraft crews to surrender as they were gunned down and annihilated. Yu Zelgo had fallen to the alien raid- No, was obliterated.

The law enforcement station became an isolated bastion of survivors once again as the tilation fortified the building with whatever firepower and manpower that was left for them. It would appear that they would have to march back to the FOB to get out of the bombardment.

If they can survive the trip, that is.

"You okay?" Higgwen asked Elavi as he checked for wounds at their improvised guard post.

"Yeah." Elavi answered.

"You alright?"

"Yeah."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Y-you didn't get hit or nothing?"

"I'm good, sar."

Higgwen then started to panic. "They-they're gone. Everybody's gone. Uttersar, Hollambro. Hollambro, Hollambro had sarlets. They didn't deserve that! They didn't deserve that poo doo!"

"Neither do you!" Elavi yelled back. "You hear me? You're gonna make it through this! Alright? You're gonna get out of here. You're gonna bond with Neliece, and you're gonna be her problem. 'Cuz I'm done taking care of your sorry buttocks, you hear me?"

It was enough to calm Higgwen down enough for a chuckle.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Ketarmetz suffered his own crisis as Granz approached him. "They got full air support, knocked our kolig right out of the sky. So much for ruling the air."

"No time for that, Lieutenant." Granz reminded him. "Those bombs are going to drop, and we're in the blast radius."

"Top of my Great Mother condemned class," Lieutenant Ketarmetz began "I get out of combat in the middle of that poo doo? Great Mother condemned it!" He then kicked what remained of an office desk. "I already lost four of my Great Mother condemned sars! …Four good sars…"

"I would go to naga and back for your, ser." Granz spoke.

After a pause, Lieutenant Ketarmetz asked. "Have you?"

"Yes." Granz continued. "You aren't the first and you won't be the last. But put that away, understand me? Right now, your sars are awaiting orders. You can go left, you can go right, I don't give a condemnation. Just make a decision."

The radio operator then approached Lieutenant Ketarmetz. "Lieutenant. It's a no-go for the helo, ser. Enemy aerocraft's lighting it up. Command said it's nothing like they've ever seen before. It's different than before."

Granz turned towards Lieutenant Ketarmetz. "We got to find a way out. We got to get to that FOB."

"Right." Lieutenant Ketarmetz agreed. "We gotta move. Let's get these people safe." He then began to bark orders.

* * *

Above an island far east of Nor Plagas, Kureller's plane dove into an ancient canyon with the alien fighter in hot pursuit. "Come and get me! Come and get me!"

The alien fighter fires a burst, only to miss and to instead hit the canyon wall just ahead of Kureller. "What are you shooting at?" The alien fighter continues to shoot and continues to miss, but each burst inched ever closer to target as it moved ever closer to Kureller's plane. "Aw, you can't hit nothing!"

He looks down at his fuel reserves, they were dangerously low; he was long past his bingo range. It was then, after a dodge did the alien's LLG rounds cause a large chunk of the canyon walls to collapse. "Oh! Low bridge! Whoh!" His plane dove under the massive rock formation while the alien flew above, still after him.

Kureller noticed that he was just moments away from falling out of the sky as there was a sharp enough turn ahead of him that no plane, alien or otherwise, to make that would ultimately make it a dead end. That was when an idea came to mind. "See if you can fly that thing undercover." He pulled a lever that deployed and then released parachutes that obstructed much of the alien fighter's view. It could navigate, but not as precisely nor as rapid.

"Hope you got an airbag!" Kureller ejected from his doomed fighter as it crashed into the canyon wall in a fireball. The alien fighter was barely able to pull up to not crash nose first into the wall but not enough to crash as it skidded to a halt and was effectively grounded.

Kureller landed not too far away from the crashed alien fighter, though not easily as it was still a sudden drop. He pushed himself off the ground and saw that the alien fighter was, indeed, down for the count. His plan actually worked and he yelled victoriously as he rushed towards the offworld machine. "That's right! That's right!" He could go no further due to the parachute entangled with the local desert flora. "Get off me! Get off me!"

He finally freed himself from the parachute and approached the fallen alien vehicle. "That's what you get! Ha ha! Look at you! Ship all banged up! Who's the sar? Huh? Who's the sar? Wait till I get another fighter! I'll line up all your friends up right beside you!" Kureller then climbed up upon the alien fighter. "Where you at? Huh? Where you at?"

He opened the hatch to reveal the alien pilot within. It woozily turned towards Kureller, only to be met with a punch to the face that knocked it out cold. "Welcome to New Turbak." He then sits down and pulls out his cigar. "Now that what I call a close encounter."

At the refugee camp, Broi laid upon a bed ill as Coyall sat next to him and Yssinifae returned with a damp cloth. "You're just like your konei, you know that?" Coyall spoke. "She was stubborn too. I had to twist her arm to get her to take her medicine." He chuckled a bit before he continued. "You're going to be alright."

"You're going to be fine." Yssinifae then gave Coyall the damp cloth who, in turn, placed it on Broi's forehead. The radio played in the background, with reports of the failed counterattack against the Jolly Cluster dropships all across the planet.

"Ya see, Broi? You're feeling better already." Coyall spoke as Ulell returned to the Seelse Caravan.

"I couldn't find anything." Ulell spoke. "Everyone's packing up. They're leaving. They said there's a spaceship headed this way."

"We'd better leave too, then, don't you think?" There was a knock on the door. As Coyall looked to see who it was, Yssinifae opened it to find the young teenager Brallip, a refugee neighbor of theirs.

He then showed the bottle. "Penicillin, uh, at least it'll help to keep his fever down."

Yssinifae takes the bottle and they both smile at each other, adolescent attraction at its fullest. "Thank you. It's really nice of you to help us."

Coyall moves to the doorway as Brallip spoke up. "I wish we could do more, but we're moving out."

Yssinifae then blurted out, "I'm going with you!" And then realize Coyalls gaze of discontent. "Uh, I just mean… we're going too." With unseen satisfaction, Coyall climbs into the driver seat of the caravan.

"Cool."

Coyall then called out to Yssinifae "Tell that glum to shut the door, we're out of here. Sniff around somewhere else." The two teenagers said their goodbyes as the caravan joins the rest of the refugee fleet.

* * *

"Poo doo." Varnap cursed as he and Buutgles were on overwatch duty for not only alien infantry, but also a workable means of exfil. Alien aircraft littered sky worse than ever as they flew overhead. "There's going to be nothing left."

"I think I got a way out." Buutgles spoke.

"What did you say?"

"Look, right here." Buutgles directed. "Two hundred statutes down, right behind that backside there."

Varnap then sees Buutgles choice; a metropolitan bus.

Back within the law enforcement station, Lieutenant Ketarmetz was informed of the bus by the overwatch team. Granz approached him. "The sars on the roof found a shuttle. They think it might be operational."

"We'd be better off on foot." Granz advised.

"It's miles to the FOB, and those bombs are going to drop in less than an hour." Lieutenant Ketarmetz reminded Granz. "We gotta move fast."

"Shuttle's a big target."

"I made the call. It's my responsibility."

Higgwen and Elavi were soon sent out to retrieve the bus and get it ready to exfil from the police station. By the time they reached the bus, however, alien infantry have hit the ground and are slowly approaching the law enforcement station. Time was running out.

"Lieutenant, we got a breach at the north entrance!" Varnap warned over the radio. Lieutenant Ketarmetz then ordered that everyone to get ready to evac at the southern entrance in order to buy time against the alien infantry. A few, well placed high explosive grenade rounds only gave enough time for everyone to board the bus and head towards the airport and out of the bomb zone but not without a brief firefight from those who circumnavigated the building.

Onboard Aerospace Force One, within one of the conference rooms, Delvis was in a meeting with General Neerus and Qanmata. The overall situation had turned grim.

"We've moved as many of our forces away from our military bases as possible, but we've already sustained heavy losses." General Neerus reported.

"I've spoken with the Joint Chiefs at SOUAD. They agree that we must launch a full counter offensive with a full nuclear strike." Qanmata suggested.

"Over Arenni soil?" Delvis asked in disbelief. "You're saying that we should sacrifice more Arenni civilians, is that right?"

Melg, after he survived another bout of air sickness, happened to overhear the conversation as Qanmata continued. "Your excellency, if we don't strikes soon, there may not be much of an Arenni to defend. We're already losing ground to these dropships on all fronts."

Just then, a radio technician rushed into the room. "Ser. They've taken out SOUAD."

"What?" General Nerus asked in disbelief.

"It's gone, ser."

"Great Mother." General Nerus gasped. "The Vice President, the Joint Chiefs."

Qanmata then turned to Delvis. "Your Excellency, we must launch. A delay now would be more costly than when you waited to evacuate the cities."

It was then did Melg enter the room with his two cents as it were. "No. No! You're not going to launch nuclear weapons. You're going to kill them and us at the same time."

Loralla entered the room as Melg continued his rant. "If we fire nukes, then everyone else whose left who's got them is going to fire 'em."

"Ser, may I remind you that you are a guest here!" General Neerus warned.

"You know what this means? Fallout. You ever heard of nuclear winter?" Hullish then walked into the room, to which only Delvis noticed his entrance.

"Melg, you can't be in this conversation." Loralla tried to reason with Melg.

"It's the end of life as we know it." He then turned towards Loralla. "Do you hear what they're talking about?" Before he turned back to Delvis. "Don't even think about it!"

"You have to leave."

"I don't have to go. It can't be allowed."

Qanmata had had enough. "Shut up! Captain, get him out of here!"

"Oi! Oi! You can't tell him to shut up!" Now it was Hullish's turn for a rant. "You'd all be dead now if it wasn't for my Melg. None of you did anything to prevent this!"

"There was nothing we COULD do." General Neerus countered. "We were totally unprepared."

"Bah, don't give me 'unprepared'."

"Come on, Hullish." Loralla once more attempted to be the arbiter of reason to those outside of politics.

"It was what, in the twenty-nine what, forties, whatever. You… You had that spaceship."

Melg was then reminded of the same stories he heard when he was younger. "Mon. No, mon."

"Yeah, that thing you found in Castees Nola!" A thought, a forgotten memory, then resurfaced on Qanmata's face.

"Mon."

Hullish turned to Melg. "Where was that?"

"N-n-not the spaceship, was that?"

The answer then came to him. "Grosmel. Grosmel, Castee Nola. Yeah!"

"Don't do this." Loralla begged.

"No! You had the spaceship, and you had the bodies. You had them locked in a- in a bunker." Hullish then turned back to Melg. "Where was that? Melg!"

"I don't know."

"Zone 49. Right? Zone 49. You knew then! And you did nothing."

Delvis felt like he needed that smile for the longest time as he approached Hullish. "Ser, regardless of what you read in the yellows, there have never been any spacecraft recovered from our government. Take my word for it. There's no Zone 49. There's no recovered spaceship."

"Uh, excuse me, your Excellency." Everyone then turned to Qanmata. "That's not ENTIRELY accurate."

Only Melg's inquiry broke the tense silence. "What? Which part?"

* * *

Hunabloom drove through the ruined streets of Nor Plagas, the faint roars of battle just north of them in Cesta Lomcatta could still be heard as they headed away from there and towards possible salvation beyond the city. In the cab with her was Billis and Scooner, while in the back were several survivors that she had found along the way.

"Hold on, everybody. Hold on!" She warned just before she ran over a bump. Just then she noticed a tall man atop a pile of rubble, a shaman with tattered clothing and a sign that proclaimed the end of days on one hand, and a book of scripture in the other.

"The end has come!" He preached. "She speaketh her word and the endeth has come!"

Hunabloom pulled the truck alongside the rubble. "Hop in! We're headed out to Yu Zeglo!"

He refused. "You cannot defy the Great Mother's word! It is the end!"

Reluctantly, Hunabloom drove away. Moments later, she comes across the ruins of a helicopter. She jumps out and calls for aid. "Can you give me a hand?"

"Yeah, sure." A survivor in tattered business attire offered. They clear the debris and rubble just enough to find survivors, only for Scooner to find one; Vinnarette Norgrem. She was alive but barely, malnourished and severely dehydrated.

Hunabloom and the survivor pulled a piece of the wreckage off from Vinnarette's body and help her up. Billis climbed out of the cab and stood next to his mother.

"She's hurt pretty badly." The volunteer noted, just as a weapon cocked behind them.

"Who's got the key?" The gun wielder demanded. Hunabloom slowly turned and spied the gun wielder, a looter who had seen better days, as a damaged sports automobile filled to the brim with stolen supplies and valuables pulled up. He called back "Looks like I found a better ride."

"You're welcomed to join us. We're leaving here anyway…" Hunabloom offered.

"We're not. Give me the key." He demanded before he called to his accomplices. "Get 'em off!"

Two of them left the car and headed towards the maintenance truck when they started to pull the injured from the tailback.

"Repent! Sinner!" The group turned to the shaman Hunabloom was forced to abandon earlier. "Repent! The end hast come!"

The looter aims the gun at the shaman. "Back off. This ain't your business."

With the distraction, Hunabloom then noticed the firework that was in Billis' back pocket.

"You cannot go against the word, kin-sel."

"Sure I can." And with those words, the shaman was gunned down to death. "Now give me that key, brickit!" Scooner barked as well, but before the looter could turn to shoot the braggit, a firework rocketed towards him and caught his shirt on fire. In a panic, he drops the weapon as his accomplices rushed to help.

Too late, Hunnabloom aimed the weapon at the looters. "This 'brickit' was born on Elobarti Isle with a monna who LOVES to hunt." She then cocked the weapon to emphasize her point. "So don't' think for a second that I don't know how to use this."

They never gave her the chance for a warning shot as they dashed away and looked for an easy score elsewhere.

The bus had reached the freeway, littered with abandoned and ruined automobiles, and have covered a lot of ground to get to Cesta Lomcatta airport, it was just within reach.

"Off ramp should be a stature ahead." Lieutenant Ketarmetz told Elavi who was behind the wheel of the bus. However, not too far away the sounds of a firefight was heard as it inched closer.

As if that were not bad enough. "Lieutenant, the off ramp's gone." Elavi reported as Lieutenant Ketarmetz spied the massive gap between them and the off ramp. The nearest exit was on the far side of the firefight which, consequentially, involved combat armor.

"Tank's drawing enemy fire! It's a good time to move!" Lieutenant Ketarmetz then turned to Granz and ordered. "I'll get suppressive fire up front; you get the civilians out back!"

Granz then turned to Varnap "Secure this exit, Varnap!"

Lieutenant Ketarmetz then lead the suppressive fire while Granz lead the civilians out of the bus and into cover. About that time he noticed a crashed helicopter on the freeway and got an idea as he went to the lieutenant. "Lieutenant Ketarmetz, if we can get the civilians to that helo, they can take cover and rappel down!"

"We got a dozen over the bridge, they're moving down." It was at that time did a rocket take out the friendly tank.

"Lieutenant!" Elavi called out. "Tank's out, there's nothing stopping them now!"

"Staff Sergeant, civilians can't make it to that helo without cover fire!" Lieutenant Ketametz told Granz.

"Varnap! Tolls! On me, let's go!" Granz ordered and all three rushed forward to provide suppressing fire. Higgwen, in turn, was ordered to get the civilians off the freeway as he rushed to the cover spot and checked the area to ensure that it was clear.

Elavi and Buutgles were ordered atop an abandoned garbage hauler, to which Tech Sergeant Grantas joined up as they were in need of an extra gun for suppressing fire. However, just then a stray rocket from the alien infantry knocked both Higgwen down the drop as the rappel rope was readied much faster than he had initially intended.

It was then did the alien infantry bring out the big guns as rocket launcher teams were deployed and fired their munitions. Time began to rapidly run out for the tilation and their civilian charges.

"They're turning this way!" Elavi called out as the rocket teams aimed at them.

"It's about to hit the fan, sels. Get out now!" Buutgles warned as he jumped off the garbage hauler. However Tech Sergeant Grantas experienced a complication.

"I'm stuck!" She could not get herself up. Instead, Elavi pulled her up and tossed her off the hauler just as the rockets flew and blew the vehicle up sky high.

To cover their escape, Lieutenant Ketametz and Staff Sergeant Granz set charges within the wheel whells of the abandoned cars. However, they experienced complications of their own as the detonator was blased by the explosion of a rocket miss.

As if that were not bad enough, while Ashugamanki was occupied with the medical care of a wounded Naval Infantryman, the civilian father was forced to spontaneously cover them from an alien infantry. The invader was downed, but not without casualties as he was hit in the side.

Staff Sergeant Granz took out one of the rocket gunners, but there were still many replacements as he dragged the wounded Lieutenant Ketametz to cover. They were running low on ammunition.

"They've got them pinned down, Staff Sergeant!" Lieutenant Ketametz told Granz. "They're pinning them down!"

"I'm not leaving you, Lieutenant."

"Staff Sergeant, you got to get them out of here!"

"Condemed it, I am not leaving you!"

"You got to get my sars out of here!"

"I am not leaving you!"

"You got to get them out of here!"

"No!" Granz exclaimed. "Not again!" He was brought back to that mission once again, one where he had to watch those under him die. He can't go through it again.

"I got a bag of explosives on the shuttle." Lieutenant Ketametz then handed Granz a letter. "Give this to my wife. And get them off this Great Mother condemned freeway…! That's an order."

"Yes, ser." With heavy reluctance, Granz left Lieutenant Ketametz to cover their escape.

"Right behind you." Lieutenant Ketametz grunted as he climbed towards the entrance of the bus and grabbed the explosive charges that were within reach for detonation. He didn't want to do it, but he had no other choice. Not if he wanted his subordinates and civilians to live.

"Cover the Lieutenant!" Granz cried out as he rushed to the rappel point.

With radio reciver in one hand, and a detonator in the other, Lieutenant Ketametz then reported as the alien infantry closed in. "This is Lieutenant Barrel Ketametz, Elto Company, Second Battalion, Fifth Naval Infantry. Oorah!" And then the bus exploded. It was only then did the firefight stop.

Granz then went to where Lieutenant Ketametz was and looked for a body. There was none; only the armored but shattered remains of alien infantry. It was after only a gut wrenched moment, and with a heavy heart, that the staff sergeant turned back and towards the rapel point. "We're still half a stature within the bombing zone. Move to live, Naval Infantry."

He had to take command. It happened all over again.

It was then did a though crossed the minds of the survivors: Did Granz really leave the lieutenant to die?

* * *

In the middle of a desert, Kureller dragged the unconscious alien pilot with his parachute. "You know, this would have been my weekend off. But no. You got me dragging your heavy buttocks through the burning desert with my parachute. You had to come down here with an additude, acting all big and bad. And what the naga is that smell?!"

Kureller then proceeded to angrily kick the alien pilot. "I could have been in a barbacoa!" Then, with a deep breath, he calmed down and began to drag the alien pilot. "But I ain't mad. It's all right. It's all right."

Just then, he heard faint engine noise. He looked up and saw a great fleet of caravans come towards his general direction. He attempted to flag them down for a ride. Why must he drag this alien pilot on his own when there were perfectly good automobiles that'll do it for him?

One of the caravans pulled up along side him. From the driver side window came Coyall. "You need a lift, soldier?"

"When I flew overhead, I saw a base not too far from here."

Confused, Coyall pulled out a roadmap. "It ain't on a map."

"Trust me. It's there."

Aerospace Force One and the Hegemon along with their escorts begin their final approach towards an air base. It's called Grelm Lake Aerospace Force Base, but it is more famously known by the codename Zone 49.

As Delvis and Yuliprae exited their respective vehicles, Aerospace Force Major General Nichael approached them with a salute. "Your Excellentcy, Secretary General."

"General." They both greeted back.

"Welcome to Grelm Lake. Please follow me."

Deep within, the entorage are shown the glass doorway. "We're now twenty-four floors below the surface. And, uh, here's our research facility."

Secretary General Yuliprae then spoke. "Well then, let's see it."

"I'm sorry, ser." Major Nichael apologized. "It's a clean room. We have to keep it static free. If we go into decontamination-"

"Open the door." Delvis ordered, to which Major Nichale complied. The entorage then entered the research facility where all of the scientists, technicians, and other researachers studied the alien objects before them, to try and understand how they work.

Though they were distracted by the presense of the President of the United Isles. "Great Mother." He then turned to Qanmata. "Why the naga wasn't I told about this place?"

"Two words: Plausible deniability."

"I don't understand. Where did all of this come from? How do you get funding for something like this?"

Hullish then put in his two cents. "You don't actually think they spent twenty thousand on a hammer, thirty thousand on a camber seat, do you?"

Delvis then couldn't help but contemplate that Hullish just might be right. Quanmata then clarified somewehat. "We actually get some of it from trademarks and other such intellectual propterties."

Before anyone could even ask, a new face appeared and Major Nichael introduced him. "Secretary General, Your Excellentcy, this is Doctor Boken. He's been heading up the research department on this project for the last fifteen cours."

Doctor Boken then shook the hands of both Yuliprae and Delvis. "Wow. What a pleasure. As all of you can imagine, they… don't let us out much."

"I can understand that." Delvis noted while Yuliprae decided to be diplomatically silent on the issue.

"Well, I guess you sels would like to see the big kayama, huh? Follow me."

The entorage were then lead to another room that housed the alien spacecraft that was recovered. However, the spacecraft that they were presented was nowhere remotely the same as the same alien fighters that now rule the skies. Instead it looked awfully familiar.

"W-wait, is that a Tyrum flyer?" Melg inquired.

"My predecessors thought that if we slowly introduce the Tyrum into popular culture, show how malevolent they might be, then when the time came the general population would actually outright fight against them." The entorage then turned towards Qanmata as if he had grown a second head. "Obviously it didn't work as intended."

"She's a beaut, ain't she?" Doctor Bokun then gestured. "As you can see by the repairs, we've been trying to put her back together since the twenty nine eighties."

"Don't tell me that you've had this for eighty cours and you don't know anything about 'em."

"Oh naga, no. No, no, no, no, no. We know tons about 'em. But the neatest stuff has only happened in the last few forthnights. See, we can't duplicate their type of power so we've never been able to experiments. But these other sels started showing up, all the little gizmos started to turn on. Not all the way, but enough to get a running start. The last day had been REALLY exciting."

"Exiting?" Delvis nearly exploded. "People are dying out there! I don't think the word 'exciting' is a word I'd choose to describe it."

Melg then looked at the Tyrum Flyer. "You sels are looking to fly this thing, huh?"

"You said you can repair their technology. Can you tell us anything useful about them? Something that can help us against the invaders?" Yuliprae inquired.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, uh, I mean, they're not all that dissimilar from us. Breathes oxygen, comparable tolerances to heat, cold." Doctor Bokun then shrugged. "Probably why the Tyrum were interested in our respective planets." Just then, a thought occurred. "Hey. Hey. You guys wanna see them? Huh?"

The entourage where then lead into another room. "Uh, this, this is the vault. Or, as some of us have come to call it, the 'Freak Show'." Dotor Bokun's chuckle died down as his joke wasn't appreciated as he used his keycard to release the locks and reveal three Tyrum corpses suspended in fluid. Many were horrified at what actual Tyrum looked like. "We learned a great deal of their anatomy. Eyes, ears, no vocal cordes. We're assuming that they communicate with each other through some other means."

"You're obviously thinking about, uh, hand signals and body language." Melg suggested.

Doctor Bokun shook his head. "It's some kind of extrasensory perception. Telepathy."

Yuliprae then leaned closer to the tubes. "So they're an organic life form."

Delvis then turned to Doctor Bokun. "Can they be killed?"

"Oh, their bodies are as frail as ours." He then gestured to two of the bodies. "Those two died in the crash. Uh, this one a few weeks later despite our best efforts. You just…. You have to get through their technology, which is, I'm sorry to say, far more advanced. The only consulation prize I can offer is that it would appear that the invaders only assimilated part of their technology so they're a bit easier from what we can tell."

Delvis then turned to Melg. "Melg, you unlocked part of their technology. You cracked the code."

Melg shook his head. "Oh no, no, no. All I did was, um stumble upon their signal. I don't know how, um, helpful I can be."

"Why don't you show them what you've discovered so far. Figure out what they haven't thought of yet. And we'll see if you're as smart as we all hope you are."

As Delvis start to walk off, Doctor Bokun then approached Melg with a confused face. "What code?"

* * *

And that's where we'll leave things off. It's not as complete as I would like but it was crunch time and I had to put up something, give some proof that it's still alive and not abandoned. Though I had anticipated that I would finish this up in two chapters, I didn't think the primary reason was time.

Again, a lot of creative licenses have been taken since I don't recall too much of the lore beyond the lifestream and youtube channel and I'm probalby wrong, but still interesting none the less for a train wreck. Though, depending on how much is written I may have to actually combine it and replace this one with the actual final chapter as I had hopped it might turn out when Larissa and Marc were gone for that extra week. Though then again, judging from my last chapter, this one's probably too long as is and probalby wiser to have stuck with the original plan of just finishing it up with just two chapters.

So until then, don't bother with the flames and brutally honest reviews. I already know how much of a rushed hack job this is and I don't need someone elses perspective to tell me that.


	5. Endgame

**Conquest of the Wessari**

Well, looks like we've reached the end of our ride here. I'm sure a few of you enjoyed the slock that I provided for this little tirbute to Stellaris Invicta. And boy howdy was it the right move to split this one in two instead of sticking it all in a single chapter. I'm not sure how, and it certainly didn't feel like it at the time, but it was actually longer than the previous one.

Still, it has been one... I want to say "illuminating" but that doesn't feel right. Well, either way, I hope you all enjoyed every slocky moment of this story. I know I had mixed feelings about the whole thing.

And speaking of feeling uncomfortable.

 **Disclaimer** **:** The basic intellectual properties that inspired this story are not own by the author. Stellaris is owned by Johan Andersson and Paradox Interactive, while the setting of Stellaris Invicta is inspired by the let's play webseries of the same name by the Templin Institute YouTube channel. Independence Day is owned by 20th Century Fox, Rolland Emmerich and Dean Delvin. Battle: Los Angeles is owned by Colombia Pictures, Jonathan Liebesman, Jeffrey Chernov, David Greenblatt, and Christopher is owned by Buena Vista Pictures, Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer, Gale Anne Hurd, Johnathan Hensleigh, and J.J. Abrams. Please support the respective official release of each property however possible.

 **Endgame**

It had been clear by all, though few were too stubborn to believe at first, that any military victory against the armies of the Jolly Cluster was now little more than the ravings of a madman. On nearly every front, for every pyrric victory earned in sacirice and blood there were ten other defeats and more territory ceeded to the alien advance. The aliens simply moved too rapidly, reacted too swiftly, and brought forth what many would call the hammer of heaven itself. Nearly all of the military forces of New Turbak, from the Global Peacekeepers to the National Guards and even the despirate local militia were exhausted both in material, personel, and morale before these new overlords. What was needed was a single, true victory; one that would stymine the relentless march of the aliens or else this world truly was lost.

That was the victory that Second Tilaton of Elto Company hoped would happened as they lead the civilians across the last stretch to at least get out of the blast radius of the bombardment. There were few combat planes in the air, a good indication that their fellow comrades in arms were still in the fight, still defended Nor Plagas from the alien army.

Soon enough, they were just barely outside the secondary effects of the bombing when they entered an abandoned convenience store and moved into the core of the building as possible, to put as much mass between them and the shockwaves of the bombardment.

"Lets tighten this place down," Staff Sergeant Granz reminded the group. "Bombs drop in six moments."

He then turned to Tech Sergeant Grantas and Corporal Higgwen. "See if there are any comms. Hard wire only." The rest began to comandeer supplies, especially medical to help with the wounded such as towards the civilian father, Hugun Itebras, who was wounded in an attempt to cover the distracted Naval Infantry from one of the alien infantryman.

In a back room, Corporal Higgwen searched for any alien surprises. He had just finished his sweep when Granz and Grantas arrived. "Higgwen, are we clear?" Buutgles asked.

"Do you have a hard line in here?" Grantas added.

"Over there." Higgwen then gestured to a desk with both a business computator and a telephone reciever.

As the Naval Infantry assisted Naval EMT Ashugamanki with treating Itebras for his injuries, the man began to speak. "Y-you know, m-my son's an optimist. Wh-when this first happened, he said 'yo-you know what, we sh-should try to talk to them. M-maybe they want to be friends'."

The civilian woman of two orphaned nieces, Kalethas Uben, then took Itebras' son away. Almost instinctively she knew what would happen next to his father as she offered an excuse of food and water for him. Itebras then reassured his son. "It's okay."

"What did you tell him?" Granz asked. It was less about curiosity and more about keeping Itebras conscious and alive.

"I said, uh…. 'Y-you know, if they're chasing and shooting at us, th-they're not good friends'." Itebras continued in regret. "I should have followed directions; gone to the FOB. I should have never have stayed at the law enforcement station, but I was scared, sar. I-I've made all the wrong decisions!"

"You've trusted your gut, Mesar Itebras, you made a call." Granz reassured. "I'd do the same to protect my Naval Infantry." There was some hesitation before he spoke once more. "I was in a situation in my last tour."

"Yeah?"

"There was no retcall; you go left, you go right, it doesn't matter."

"B-but you're alive."

"Yeah, I survived." Granz then spoke in regret. "I wasn't suppose to."

"St-staff Sergeant Granz," Itebras began as he held out a hoved hand, to which Granz took it. "You promise to save my sarlet?"

Before Granz could answer, truly answer, Grantas called out. "Staff Sergeant, we have a hard line connection!"

Granz then turned to Ashugamanki before he left. "Med, keep him warm. Raznum's going down."

As ordered, the Naval EMT unfurled a metallic blanket. "This will keep you warm."

"How in naga did you get that to work?" Granz asked Grantas as he entered the back offices.

"These things are everywhere." Grantas as she pointed at a broadband video of one of the alien dropships. "They're calling it the command and control center."

"That's the thing you were tracking?"

She nodded. "Yeah. To be exact, something that will let us knock it out without going full nuclear."

"I wouldn't want to be in the same neighborhood either." Granz then turned towards her. "Taking it out would take out their air forces?"

Grantas then shrugged. "Hopefully. We don't know enough about the aliens to be sure."

Granz then sighed. "These bombs better work…"

The NI then relocated to the back room, where the effects of the bombardment would be the most dampened, as they carried Itebras with them. "How much time do we have?" Varnap asked.

Granz looked at his watch. "One moment."

"Aerospace Force'll about to lay some pain on those extrasolar rock suckers!"Corporal Buutgles spoke in reassurance.

"Alright Two, Five, retreat…"

"Naga!" The rest of the Tilaton responded in vigor.

"Retreat…"

"Naga!"

"Let's fry these condemed illigitimates." Buutgles added.

"When we get to the FOB after these bombs drop, get some ammo." Granz advised.

"Some Great Mother condemned reinforcements," Varnap added. "Some Great mother condemned tanks!"

Granz then began to countdown to when the bombardment were scheduled to begin as the rest of the group braced themselves for the chaotic symphony of explosions. However, they were met instead with not the pandemonium of explosions, but the muffled noises of battle that raged just outside.

"They should have dropped!"

"What the naga?"

"Shouldn't they have dropped by now? Should we have felt it if they started the bombardment?"

"We would have felt it all the way to Nor Vulgul with that much ordinance!"

"That ticker right?" Varnap asked about the clock upon the wall.

"That's what I got." Ashugamanki added as well.

"M-maybe that's a good thing." Buutgles began. "M-maybe we turned the tide. That's a good thing, right?"

"Condemed straight!" Varnap agreed. "We were kicking some buttocks!"

"Could they have taken out the entire areospace force?" Uben fearfully suggested.

Grantas then sighed in disappointment. "This isn't happening…"

With little choice, and with a need to reach Cesta Lomcatta airport, the tilaton and their civilian charge left the convenience store. However, they cannot help but ponder as to what happened with the planned bombardment. Did something happen?

* * *

The guards to the gate of Grelm Lake Aerospace Force Base continued their post to prevent unauthorized entry to one of the most sensitive and top secret locations of all of Arenni if not all of New Turbak, a task that was more monotonous than exhilarating. Though on this particular day, they were met with a curious sight approach them; a fleet of caravans that was lead by a hauler with Krueller in the bed of the vehicle.

Once the vehicle had made a complete stop, Krueller stepped off from the vehicle and reported. "Captain Teeve Kureller. United Isles Naval Infantry."

The commander of the gate guards then replied. "Apologies, Captain. This is a restricted area. I can't let you pass without clearance."

Kureller sighed. "Okay. Come here." He then motioned the guards closer. "You wanna see my clearance?" From the tarp, Kureller revealed the unconcious alien aviator that lied within the bed of the vehicle. The guards were shocked and horrified by the mere presense of the alien invader. "Maybe I'll leave this here with you?"

Understandably unsettled by the sight, the commander ushered the caravans onto the base. "Let him pass. Let him pass!"

"Get the naga out of th way." Kureller shouted as the armed guards moved and allowed the rest of the caravan fleet to pass through.

One guard then turned to another. "Did you see that?"

Within the Tyrum Flyer, Doctor Bokun descended the step ladder into the extraterrestrial vehicle and lead Melg, Doctor Jullic and a fellow technician within. "Come on down."

Melg followed suit and looked around the cockpit area. "Electrostatic?" He inquired.

"Yeah. Well, obviously this, er, this cockpit was designed to sit three." Doctor Bokun gestured to the three objects that were suspended from the ceiling that looked nothing like what one would describe as chairs or even seats. "Though how they sat on them, I don't know." He then pointed towards the control panel. "You see those grismas flashing?"

"Yeah." Melg answered as Doctor Jullic and the technician entered the flyer as well.

"We've been working around the clock trying to get a fix on all of this." Doctor Bokun continued as he points at a panel. "Some stuff we figured out right away. Uh, this, we're pretty sure, is the life support for the cabin." He then reached out to touch a strange knob-like lever, "And, uh... this booknocker is connected to-" which promptly was no longer connected to anything. "Oh... Well, it WAS connected to the engine." He then handed the disconnected object to Doctor Jullic. "Here, take that, will you?"

Doctor Bokun then turned back to Melg as he pointed out the strange, yet barley visible images upon the dashboard of the cockpit. "Uh... These configurations... uh..." He shrugged as he continued. "Well... To be honest, we don't know what the naga this poo doo is. But this is clearly what they use to, er... navigate and guide the craft." He then chuckled. "Neat, huh?"

However, the images were very familiar to Melg. Granted, there were some differences but the basic nature of the images were similar to the signal that he himself had stumbled upon earlier. He then turned to Doctor Jullic and the technician. "Uh, could somebody grab my personal computator there?" And then turned back to Doctor Bokun. "Can I just have the computator inside?"

"What?"

"These patterns are repeating sequentially, like their countdown signal." Melg clarified as he was handed his personal computator and placed the screens side-by-side. "They're using that frequency for computator communications. See? That's how they're coordinating their ships."

Doctor Okun looked at both screens, alternated between the different images, before he spoke "You know, ...you're relaly starting to make us look bad."

"Well, uh, not intentionally." Melg apologized. "My Konnati once told me- well, numerous times now that I think about it, that sometimes it takes an outside eye to catch something you missed."

"I'll take it that you missed alot?"

"Tunnel vision, unfortunately."

"Yeah, we can relate. Especially now." Doctor Bokun nodded.

It was then did they hear someone cry out "They got one! They got one alive!"

Doctor Jullic then turn to Doctor Bokun. "They got one, alive!"

"Great Mother!" Doctor Bokun nearly exclaimed in a gasped. Then he turned to Melg. "Uh.. You'll be okay by yourself, Melg?"

"Fine, buddy." Melg answered.

Before he turned and left the Tyrum Flyer, Doctor Bokun then advised. "Uh... don't touch anything."

As the researchers and technicians left the flyer, Melg muttered to himself. "Everybody's always tell me not to touch anything." In a move of rebellion, he put his hand upon the dashboard, but then felt the wet sensation upon the palms of his hooved hands as he pulled away and visibly disgusted. "Oh! It's all wet..."

The hangar space was abuzz with activity as Doctor Bokun, Doctor Jullic and others rushed towards the scene. "Oh, boy. Oh, boy! Let's go! How long has he been unconscious?"

"About four or five scores." Kureller answered as everyone's attention was upon the unconscious alien aviator.

In fact, so much so that no one heard the calls of Coyall call for a doctor to help his son, Broi. "Let's get him in containment."

"My sarlet... he's very sick. He needs immediate attention!" Coyall begged for Broi's life, but none of the personnel were able to even take notice of his pleas. "He has a problem with his adrenal cortex! Please!" However, in desperation, when Doctor Jullic was about to unlock the lift that lead straight into the research center, Coyall grabbed him by the collar of his double breasted lab coat despite the presence of assault rifles and other manner of small arms now pointed at him. "If you don't do something right now, my sarlet will die!"

With knowledge of the limited time they might have, Doctor Okun simply relented. "Just help him!"

Doctor Jullic then called for aid as Coyall lead them back to the Seelse Caravan while the rest relocated to the containment lab far below the secret aerospace base.

Within the radio room of Grelm Lake Aerospace Force Base, General Nerus was then able to find the time to ask important questions to Quanmata. "As the former head of the ASI, you knew about this place. When were you planning on informing the rest of us."

"It was deemed classified." Quanmata began. "The kind that would 'dissappear' even me if-"

"You should have told us about this when they first arrived!" General Nerus then began to growl in frustration and anger. "You should have warned us before we launched a counterattack that costs the lives of hundreds of our aviators!"

"We could not have known that our fighters would have been that ineffective! Naga, the only crime I'm guilty of is backing the wrong condemed grulish. These aliens came out of nowhere!" It was then did Quanmata notice Delvis' arrival along with Yuliprae. "Your Excellency. Secretary-General."

"The little bit of information we have comes directly into this room." A military aid briefed the VIPs as they looked around at what is essentially an impromptu command center.

Delvis looked upon the monitor that displayed the map of the Arenni archepeligo. " Esruta, Shryketa, and Compraddia. Destroyed."

"We learned that League installations were the first to be taken out. Then we were hit." General Nerus reported. "They knew exactly where and how to hit us."

"And our forces?" Yuliprae asked.

"We're down to fifteen percent." General Nerus answered before he continued. "If you calculate the time it takes to destroy a city and move on, extending the occupation zones even further, we're looking at the worldwide destruction of every major city in the next forthnight."

"We're being exterminated..." Delvis breathed in horrible enlightenment.

"Secretary General! Your Excellency!" Attention then turned to Major General Nichael and Captain Teeve Krueller. "This is Captian Teeve Krueller."

Delvis and Krueller then shook hands and greeted one another. "Good job." Delvis then turned to Major Nichael. "Where is it now?"

"It's isolated in the containment lab, ser."

"I'd like to go see it."

"And we will finally have a face of our alien invaders." Yuliprae added as well.

As the entourage left to decend deeper into the secret base, Krueller caught General Nerus' attention. "General, I'm ancious to get back to Yu Zeglo."

With a surprised look upon his face, General Nerus answered. "Hasn't anyone told you? Yu Zeglo has been completely destroyed." With only a pat on his shoulder for condolences, General Nerus left Kureller on his own to join the rest of the entourage. Kureller, for his part, could not contain his distraught and horror of the news.

Hunabloom drove the road maintenance truck up to the gate of Yu Zeglo, it was one of the few that stood admist the devistation of the air station. All she found upon the far side of the chain-linked fence was wreckage, debris, corpses, and ash.

She then had to face the very real possibility that Kureller was now among the dead. Her trek to this air station might have been for naught.

* * *

The remaining survivors of Second Tilation, Elto Company and their civilian charge had their answer before them as Cesta Lomcatta airport was wrecked and bombarded, straffed and blown up.

"Now we know why the bombardment didn't start." Higgwen commented before they entered the airport proper and began to clear the area of any survivors or alien infantry.

"They wiped out the FOB off the map." Buutgles added as well.

"All clear, Staff Sergeant." Varnap reported to the conditions of what remained of a hangar and its impromptu command center.

"Alright, let's bring him back here." Granz ordered as the civilians were brought to a relatively secure, relatively defensible position. Ashugamanki then began to work on Itebras' wounds with what supplies were available.

"I feel like a million to one odds that we'd get here in the first place." One of the NI spoke before he slammed his fist upon one of the containers in frustration. "We get here and we find nothing."

"I knew Granz could never get us out..." Another NI agreed.

"There was like thousands of NI here." Buutgles noted.

"Yeah, well there's like seven of us now, Buutgles." Varnap countered.

Both Granz and Grantas walked away from the makeship hospital when the latter turned her head towards the Staff Sergeant. "You remind me of my kin-sel."

"How's that?" Granz asked.

"He never smiles either."

A sigh escaped Granz's lips before he ordered. "Just get in front with Higgwen." As Grantas went to her assigned post, he turned to Buutgles. " Buutgles, anything?"

"Nothing, Staff Sergeant. We only got maps of Cesta Lomcatta. We need something farther oriens. They're all burnt." Buutgles reported with heavy disappointment.

"Follow me." Granz ordered as the two ascended a set of stairs to an overhead office. "Alright, this is the Battalion Commander's hooch. We're looking for maps, anything with an extraction point."

"Yes, Staff Sergeant." Buutgles complied as they both searched the office space for any useful maps or similar documentation that could help with their escape from the occupied and besiged Nor Plagas.

Ashugamanki, meanwhile, checked Itebras' pulse. With a professional face, he turned towards Itebras' son and spoke. "I'll be right back."

"Found a tactical map, Staff Sergeant." Buutgles reported. Granz arrived just as the NI began to explain its nature. "It shows all of the units deployed." He then pointed at the unfamiliar symbols marked on the map. "What the naga are these red marks here?"

"It's shows that they're gone." Granz solemnly answered.

"Yo-you mean that they got moved?"

"Wiped out."

With a look of deep disbelief, Buutgles asked. "All of them?"

"All of them."

"Poo doo..."

Granz then spied a location that wasn't crossed out. "Alright. One alternate extraction point that's still operational."

Buutgles looked at the distance between former FOB and the extraction point when Ashugamanki entered the office space. "Staff Sergeant?" He then called for Granz's attention again.

"Ashugamanki, there's plenty of weapons still around. Grab yourself an assault rifle."

"Mesar Itebras has passed." The report brought an aura of gloom over the entire space as Granz and Buutgles absorbed the news. Granz slammed the table in frustration. He could do little more than to look down upon Itebras' son who begged for his father to awaken, to not abandon him to this new and terrible world of alien invasion, even though the boy knew that he was gone. Uben immediately went to his side to comfort him in his time of mourning.

Almost as soon as Granz approached the makeshift hospital, the boy rushed to his side and embraced him tightly. "It's okay, braddy." He returned the hug as well. "Your Monei was a brave sar, Hekbor."

It was when he noticed the despair among the remaining civilians and naval infantry did Granz kneal before the young boy and embraced him. "I'm sorry, Hekbor. I'm sorry." Though the boy obliged the hug of sympathy, Granz could not help with the thought that another had died on his watch. Worse, it was a civilian who had no choice but to pick up arms to defend his NI. That was not how things were suppose to happen. "It's okay to cry. He loved you very much."

Granz then looked at Hekbor in the eyes. "Listen to me, Hekbor. I need you to be brave for me, I need you to be my litle Naval Infantry. Okay?" Hekbor nodded, his cheeks still moist with tears. "You gotta be brave for the others. Do you know why?"

"Why?" Hekbor spoke in between sobs.

"Because Naval Infantry don't quit." Granz answered. "Do you believe that?" Hekbor nodded. "Say it for me."

"N-Naval Infantry don't quit."

"I'm going to get you out of here." Granz promised. It was then did Uben lead Hekbor away and towards her orphaned nieces.

Granz noticed the looks upon the surviving NI as he stood up and addressed them. "We are not losing one more of those civilians, understand?"

"Are you getting us out too, Staff Sergeant?" Varnap asked in a tone that was less of a question and more of an accusation. "Or are we expendable?"

The other NI awaited with baited breath to see how Granz would answer as the Staff Sergeant approached Varnap. "Alright, look, you want to go there? Let's go there. I commanded sars, and sars died. Quntz, nineteen cours old, the best sar I ever lead. Did you ever think, for one second, that I would rather trade places with them? I know you think I got my sars killed. They're dead, I'm here. Like the punchline of some bad joke. You think I like that? You think that a moment goes by and their faces aren't right here, seared into my brain?" He then began to recite the names of those who had died in the line of duty. "Bante, T. Corporal; 156509386. Estuber, R. Private; 876662354. Gwort, H. Lance Corporal, 874273993. Varnap, G. Corporal, 1568709..."

"Five, Five." Varnap completed as a solem tear streaked down his face.

"Your kin-sel was an outstanding Naval Infantry." Granz continued. "He was my friend. And I miss him every single dae. And you remind me of him." He then turned back to Varnap. "None of that matters right now. Because our duty is to keep moving forward, keep fighting. That's how we honor your kin-sel, and Lieutenant Ketametz, Corporal Elavis, Lance Corporal Bentova, Hekbor's father who picked up a rifle and did what needed to be done. A civilian did that! So we better condemed well better step it up! Discard any lingering doubt. Work fast, work as a unit and we WILL prevail. Let's figure out how we're going to get out of this mess."

Granz then turned to Buutgles and ordered. "Buutgles, come with me, I need to get to higher ground. The rest of you, find some ammo, some vehicles. There's got to be some IFVs or armored scouts still operational."

The Naval Infantry then began to disperse and look for anything that they can salvage, all the while apologized to the fallen who were unable to recieve a proper burial due to the presence of the alien infantry and the absence of those that were forced to abandon their bodies.

Admist the ruins of Yu Zeglo, the survivors gathered around a small campfire as Hunabloom and Billis returned to Vinnarette with what food that could be salvaged from what remained of the air station's cafeteria. "These should last a while."

Vinarette moved towards the food, though with some strain and discomfort, when Hunabloom stopped her. "Don't move. I'll get it for you. Stay still."

Vinarette leaned back and glanced Hunabloom's son. "He's your sarlet?"

"He's my seraph." Hunabloom smiled with pride.

"Was his monei stationed here?"

Hunabloom shook her head. "Naw, he, uh... wasn't his monei. But I was hoping that he wanted the job, though."

From the tone alone, Vinarette though it was diplomatic to change subjects. "So what do you do for a living?"

"I'm a dancer."

"Oh. Ballet?"

"No. Exotic."

With the thought that she encroached upon another sensitive topic, Vinarette apologized. "Oh. Sorry."

Hunabloom shook her head. "Don't be. I'm not. It's good money. Besides, my serleti's worth it." She then turns towards Billis. "Billis! Come here." He obliged as he approached his mother, who introduced him to Vinarette. "I want you to meet the mate of His Excellency."

"Hello."

"Hi." Billis greeted as they both shook hands.

Vinarette then turned to look at Hunabloom. "I didn't know that you'd recognize me."

Hunabloom then spoke in candor. "Well, I didn't want to say anything. I voted for the other sar."

Within the operating room deep beneath Grelm Lake Aerospace Force Base, Doctor Bokun and his aids surrounded the table. "All right. Life support monitors recording, so if we screw it up, we got it all on disk."

"Look at the size of these pectorals. They must be bred for war." Doctor Bokun theorized as he searched around the collar of the alien aviator to find a way to remove the helmet. Soon enough, a latch was found and the collar dam was unscrewed from the rest of the flight suit to reveal the true visage of the alien as its digits started to move. Its ears were of a different shape and location compared to those of a wessari, its snout and tusks were nonexistent as its face was practically blunt in comparison, which in itself was effectively bald with the exemption of the tuffs of eyebrows and locks of mane tied into a bun. It was like nothing they've ever seen before.

"Oh, look at it. It doesn't look alive, does it?" Doctor Bokun noted when it was just at that moment when the movement of the arm was seen. "The arm is moving..."

The alien then opened her eyes as a burst of psycho-energy ripped through the minds of Doctor Bokun and the aids, distracted them long enough for the aviator to rip off the restraints and to spin kick the others away. She then flipped off the table and grabbed a scalple in hand just as she noticed an aid scramble to open the now sealed doors. In blind rage, she dashed towads the unforunate aid and raised the scalple for a murder blow.

* * *

Granz and Buutgles reached the top of the Cesta Lomcatta flight tower's observation deck and gadged the movement of the alien army. It was worse than what they have seen on ground level. "If that evac's still available, I think we can get behind the line."

"That's going to be one naga of a ride, Staff Sergeant." Buutgles noted.

"Yeah? Well that's what we get paid for."

As the surviving civilians were evacuated to a commandeered armored personnel carrier, Granz transmitted a message through the radio. "Any station, come in, this is Fuptic Two Nolsenta. We have eleven passengers, requesting evacuation at alternate extraction point Cheqo. Are there any flocks in the air, over?"

There was a reply. "Fulpit Two Nolsenta, this is Sireena Two Five. Orders are to pull back to Cheqo by three hundred scores. We'll be gone, over."

"Acknowledged, three hundred scores, not a minute longer. Out." As he rushed towards the improvised convoy, he called out to Buutgles. "Buutgles, ever seen what a brush hunter chaingun can do?"

"Poo doo, yes, Staff Sergeant." Once everyone was at their assigned posts, the improvised convoy with the armored personnel carrier in the lead then left the ruins of the airport and rushed down the streets and roadways towards the extraction point, their only path of rescue from the alien army.

The entorage of Delvis and Yuliprae soon arrived at the vault to witness the alien aviator, but what they found was an operator room in bloody chaos and carnage, blocked by the smoke of the aftermath. Major General Nichael approached an intercome and spoke into it. "Doctor Bokun?"

In macabre response, Doctor Bokun was pushed against the observation window. His hand crawled for a moment, as it searched for the intercom button before he spoke. "Uh.. hey sars. Uh.. could you open the door?"

"Open the door. Get him out of there." Major General Nichael ordered.

"No, wait." General Nerus overroad the order as he noticed that an empty syring was shoved into Doctor Bokun's neck. The entorage then noticed and realized that the alien aviator had him as a hostage.

"Uh... We'd really like to get out of here." The aviator then screached in its native tongue. "Preferably alive if at all possible. And she's REALLY not in a good mood."

"'She'?" Quanmata raised an eyebrow. A look that was shared by the rest of the entourage. "With those pectorals?"

Doctor Bokun didn't need to hear them to realize their confusion. "I know what you're thinking. And, uh... Those aren't pectorals. They're actually utters-" The aviator screached in annoyance as she twisted the syring deeper. "Compliment! Compliment! It was a compliment."

Yuliprae turned to Delvis, whom silently agreed with a nod as the secretary general pressed the intercom button. "I know there is much we can learn from each other, if we can negotiate a truce. We can find a way to coexist. Can there be a peace between us?"

"Heh, heeh, ahh heet, hoot hoot wahh!"

"What's a 'tierless'-" The aviator dug the syring even deeper. "Aaah! Nevermind!" Doctor Bokun then turned back to the secretary general and spoke. "Apparently the only 'coexistence' they'll accept is if they're the dominators and we're the subjects."

"Slaves?" Quanmata blurted out, though coincidentally Doctor Bokun raised a hooved thumb of approva as if agreeing to the statement. "This whole thing is about conquest?"

"But why? We must not have anything of value?" A member of the Currano Executive Council inquired.

"Could it be because of that Tyrum Flyer here?" Another member inquired.

"Xling won't take this standing down." Premier Xeong Yulqin noted. "My opponents, or what's left of them anyway, will make sure of that unfortunately.

"Well obviously we need to do something. We're not doing too good on any front." Yuliprae then turned back to the intercom. "If we escort you out of confinement, and return you to your people, will you relay our request for a parlay?"

The aviator paused in heavy thought before it spoke once more. Doctor Bokun then translated through the strange mindlink he's now forced to share. "Well, uh... She's pretty low on the totem pole- whatever THAT means, so there's no gurantee that it would even reach the generals in orbit. But she will try, she just needs radio contact- Oh, so that's what you call it."

Yuliprae turned back to Delvis, who nodded in response as the Secretary General spoke once more. "Agreed. Release Doctor Bokun and we will-"

"HARROT!" The aviator screeched. "Heeh, hahhh, hooh!"

"What did she say?" General Neerus asked.

"Why not? I mean they gave their word." Doctor Bokun inquired.

"Huah, hoot, hwat."

"Typical..." The entourage looked on in curiocity when Doctor Bokun notice their nonvirbal disposition and spoke up. "Well she thinks that there's no guarantee that you won't shoot her on sight so I'm kinda stuck like this. Personally, not a fan of the idea. But what can you do with a syring full of who knows what stabbed in your neck?"

Soon, the alien aviator was able to contact the Jolly Cluster and was escorted to the tarmac and awaited rescue. Doctor Bokun was still a hostage when a strange container parachuted to the ground. She approached the container and, with her free hand, typed in a code that caused the container to unfurl into a strange kind of harness. She stepped back into the harness which caused it to automatically latch itself to the armored flightsuit and fired a tethered balloon into the sky.

"Wait, is that a-" A guard began to speak.

"Hoot hoot, whaoot!"

"GT who- ACK!" Doctor Bokun was pushed away from the aviator as she rapidly accended into the air and pulled into an alien tactical transport that had just flew overhead.

The entorage observed the event from a live feed and then turned to debate with one another. Delvis then turned to Yuliprae "Will we get an armistice, secretary general?"

The secretary general sighed before he spoke. "As much as I would wish it, deep down I know that it would not be possible. We're exhausted and they are winning."

"But we're still not out of the fight." Yulqin interupted. "If conventional warfare is not working, then we should go with our strongest weapon."

"Do you realize what you're asking-" Delvis began when Yulqin continued.

"I put the motion that we should authorize full, nuclear strike against these dropships." Yulqin declared. "There is more than enough warheads to take them out and their armies as well. Their number may be legion, but their transports are not."

"I second the motion." A surviving member of the Hegemon General Assembly agreed.

Virtually outmaneuvered, Yuliprae then relented. "Then it is open to a vote. All those in favor?" It was nearly unanimous, even Delvis cast his vote against his concious. "The motion has past into resolution. The strategos is authorized to use nuclear strikes."

* * *

After a harrowing gunfight through the abandoned streets of Nor Plagas, second tilation soon arrived at the alternate extraction site just as a helicopter had begun to land at the designated zone.

"Everyone okay?" Ashugamanki asked Uben and the children.

"Yes!" Uben answered.

"Let's get us home." Granz stated as everyone vacated the commandeered vehicles of the improvised convoy and headed towards the helicopter.

They all rushed aboard the awaited aircraft as one of the crew yelled out. "Load 'em up! Our flight path won't be clear for much longer!" He then turned to Granz. "You're in the middle of the poo doo, Staff Sergeant!"

"What happened to our aerospace?" Granz asked over the roar of the rotor-blades.

"Fell back to save what's left of our assets! They were pulling us out!" Then he spoke something that poinletly described how badly they have suffered strategically and tactically. "We're abandoning Nor Plagas!"

With little recourse, Granz joined the rest onboard the helicopter and held tight as the aircraft accended into the air just as the evacuation site was quickly occupied by the scouts of the alien army. Though some rounds were fired, the helicopter and its occupants escaped the wrath of the aliens unscathed, but the same could not be said of the ocean of inferno and destruction that was once the city of Nor Plagas. From a distance, the Jolly Cluster dropship loomed over the landscape like an ominous mountain whose shadow obscured any sense of hope or victory.

Was there any hope for some kind of salvation against such an aggressive invasion?

Back upon Grelm Lake, Melg searched for more intoxicating beverages, but with limited success when Loralla entered the kitchen. He then muttered to himself. "Just my luck. No ice."

"I take it that you heard?"

Melg then turned towards her with a look of slight surpise. "Oh, hey. Toast, to the end of the world."

"Well, he... didn't come to this decision lightly. It was a league resolution, he didn't have any choice."

"Yeah. Well, you still believe in him." Melg noted before he took a sip of the alchoholic drink.

"Yeah. Well he's a good sar."

"Oh, he'd better be. You left me for him." Melg then corrected himself. "Or, you know, for your career."

"See, now, it wasn't just my career. It was the biggest opportunity of my life. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted my life to mean something."

"Yeah, and, um, I wasn't, um," Melg poored himself another glass. "Ambitious enough for you?"

Loralla sighed in exaspiration. "Melg, Melg, you could have done anything you wanted. Research, development, you could just-"

"Oh, yinnel, I was happy where I was."

"Haven't you ever wanted to be part of something special?"

Melg slammed the bottle against the shelf, obviously a nerve was struck from Loralla's choice of words. "I WAS part of something special."

"Well, if it makes any difference, I never stopped loving you."

"But that wasn't enough, was it?" With nothing else that could be added, Loralla simply left Melg to his own devices.

Upon the tarmac, Kureller was dejected from the very idea that Hunabloom and Billis were no longer alive. He barely registered the activity all around him until he noticed a helicopter that was unguarded and a spark of hope, and a stupid idea, struck him. He climbed into the helicopter and was about to take off when one of the soldiers noticed that Kureller was not one of the assigned pilots of the helicopter as he aimed a pistol at him. "What the naga are you doing? Get out of there!"

"Look, I got something I got to handle. I'm just borrowing it."

"No, you're not, ser."

Kureller then leaned towards the soldier. "Do you really want to shoot me?" After a pause, the soldier put down his weapon. As Kureller strapped himself in and started up the engine, he told the soldier "Just tell 'em I hit you." Before the soldier could recover from his confusion, Kureller was already in the air.

"Poo doo. I'm going to catch naga for this." The soldier groaned.

Deep within the base, in the improvised command room. The entourage and the command staff oversaw the nuclear strike against the Jolly Cluster dropships. From the monitor, Delvis asked "Which city will they reach first?"

"Uh, Gullist, Crayha. ETA Six moments and counting down."

Delvis sighed with a look that questioned the choice of his vote. General Neerus noticed that look and spoke up. "The major cities have been deserted. Civilian casualties should be down to a minimum."

Soon enough, the strike was ready to go. All it needed was the permission of the President of the United Isles to move forward. General Neerus then spoke. "Your Excellency, if you wish to deploy, the time is now."

Delvis still could not get the words to flow from his mouth. He knew in his gut, his very soul, that this was the wrong thing to do.

Quanmata then leaned towards Delvis. "Your Excellency?"

"Deploy." Delvis finally spoke.

The radar image then showed the missile on its way to the target. The pilot reported the progress of the cruise missile. Delvis could only pray "May our sarlets forgive us."

Impact. The screen from the tank on the ground then snowed and became static. Quanmata jumped up from his seat. "Oh, yeah! It's a hit!"

"Can we confirm that the target was destroyed?" Delvis asked.

Major General Nichael then turned to the radio operator. "Get that armor commander on-line. I want confirmation that the target was destroyed."

"Yes, ser." The technician then spoke into the reciever. "Red arrow, algra, ninna, Seven-Two-Three. Can you read?"

There was a pause as both the image and the vehicle commander spoke. "Negative." The dropship was still there, still present. "Target remains. I repeat, target remains."

Delvis then gave the order. "Call the other planes back."

"The other bombers may have more luck." Yulqin countered.

"Yes, your excellency, we shouldn't give up on this." Quanmata agreed.

"I said call them back." Delvis knew the moment the dropship was unaffected; nuclear weapons were nothing against them. All it would do is irradiate the land, nothing more.

* * *

The survivors at Yu Zeglo then saw lights appear in the sky. At first, they thought that it was one of the alien fighters or some other weapon of terror, but then the familiar noise of helicopter rotors were heard as it landed. A man jumped off the vehicle and called out "Hunabloom?"

Hunabloom then rushed into Kureller's arms as Vinarette looked on with a smile. "You're late."

"Yeah, well you know how I'd like to make an entrance." Kureller spoke as the two kissed.

Back upon Grelm Lake, upon the emergency medical floor, Delvis with Lyssa in his arms was lead down the corridor by presidential security personnel. "Tell me, where are we going?"

The man gestured to Delvis. "Right through here, ser."

Doctor Jullic turned to Delvis. "Your Excellency, your mate's resting confortably."

"Great." Delvis then spotted Vinarette in the hospital bed, talking to Loralla. Before Doctor Jullic could speak any more, Delvis placed Lyssa on the ground. "Hey, there she is. Go on." Without any hesitation, Lyssa rushed to her mother and laid by her side.

"She doesn't look too good." Delvis commented.

"Your mate's bleeding internally, your excellency. Perhaps if we could have gotten to her earlier-"

"Oi. Wh-wait a moment. What are you saying?"

"We can't stop the bleeding. If we cou- There's nothing we can do for her."

Delvis then turned back to Lyssa and Vinarette whom hugged each other in bed. "We were worried, we didn't know where you were." Lyssa said.

"Well, I didn't know where I was either." Vinarette then added. "You got bigger, I think."

"I did?"

Vinarette nodded. "You just keep growing and growing. I can't..."

Delvis then approached Lyssa. "Oi, can you, er, wait outside for a little bit? So konna can gether rest?"

Lyssa then hugged Vinarette before climbed out of bed andLoralla took her hand. "Oi, come on, squatlet."

"I'm so sorry that I didn't come home when you asked me to." Vinarette apologized, her voice sounded so weak.

"No. It's okay. The doctors think that you're going to be just fine."

Vinarette then smiled weakly. "Liar." The two then kissed and hugged each other as tears ran down their faces.

Delvis exited the hospital room, crestfallen. Loralla, some doctors and medical crew moved towards him, but he stopped them with a gesture. He then saw, at a distance, Hunabloom, Kureller, and Billis. From that, he made his way to them. Hunabloom then turned to him and spoke. "I'm so sorry."

"I just wanted to give gratitude." Delvis spoke. "You're a very brave busar."

Across the hall, Delvis spotted Lyssa sitting alone. He sat next to her and then she placed her hands upon his knee. "Is konna sleeping now?"

"Yes." Delvis nearly choaked. "Konna's sleeping now." Both father and daughter embraced each other as they both began to weep.

Outside, on the airfield, a massive transport had just landed. From the ramp came squads of heavily armed and armored soldiers, with weapons at the ready. With the area secured, an unarmored officer decended from the ramp. His polished boots barely hit the tarmac when Yuliprae and the remains of the Hegemon General Assembly approached. An aid then handed the military officer a headset, to which he placed it upon his head and began to speak. "I see that your species finally capitulated."

"There was no one left." Yuliprae spoke. "We had no other choice."

"Well," The officer began. "There's always extinction, but I doubt either one of us would honestly want that. It wouldn't be very productive."

"As much as it pains me to say this, but bondage and servitude is the only way wessari can survive now. As subjects of the Jolly Cluster."

The officer paused before he spoke. "Well, we did come here unannounced so it's no wonder you stuck with that term. As the first, tierless civilians of the Greater Terran Union, you should know that the constellation above is the Terran Home Fleet."

"So what would you have us do?" Yuliprae asked.

"Well it should be obvious: Serve the national interest of the Greater Terran Union." The officer answered.

Upon the forth quarter of Earth Year 2222, the Wessari and the Greater League of Nations had become the subjects of the Greater Terran Union. As the terran social system was organized with the human species in mind, there was no provisions nor precedent for extrasolar species. Thus, the wessari have become the first Tier 0 civilians of the GTU, or more commonly called Tierless.

Through the toil, oppression, and suppression, and numerous pacifict protest, the wessari endured. But soon, nearly a generation from the original conquest, the wessari were then granted the right to not only advance high in the terran tier system, but also volunteer for military service that was originally exclusively human. This was all due to the valor and bravery of wessari merchant marine and auxilliary units during the Skiron Campaigns and, though the highest tiers and the highest levels of government were still denied them, they had proven their worth as citizens of the Greater Terran Union.

But that was a tale for another time.

* * *

And that'll be it. I hoped all of you enjoyed the slock that was the Conquest of the Wessari. I'm sure that many of the events don't exactly match up to the lore, but I guess one could chalk it up to it being a tale as historically accurate as Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor was. I probably would have written more, but there really wasn't any possible way for me to move the plot forward compared to the source material, and it was going to be a bad end anyway so why prolong the suffering?

Not sure if anyone noticed, and I'm not sure if said character would have lived long enough for that Faraxian Battle of Fedeema, but who thinks that the GTU version of Larissa Tompson would have fit the captured pilot?

No one? Eh, figured as much. Though if it helps, you guys can imagine that military officer as being a proxy for Marc.

And I'm probably sure some of you are wondering why that pilot has psycic abilities when in the game the GTU didn't go down that path. Well, I had pondered that scene and the thought of the pilot conveninelty having a translator headset like the officer would have been too much of a stretch. Rare psychic abilities seemed to fit the bill a little bit better.

Anywho, that'll be it for now. I'm probably going to have sleep depravation by the time the newest Twitch Stream is live, but if I get even a mention from either Larissa or Marc on it about my little slock fest, then I think it just might be worth it. Who knows? Down the road I just might make a slocky version of the Wessari Starship Trooper version of the Skiron Campaigns. I doubt it, but it's a nice thought.

And as always, flames and brutally honest reviews are redundant. Unlike Michael Bay or Uwe Boll, I'm self aware enough to know how bad this story's been.


End file.
